Go for Good
by Andra-ggfan
Summary: [Post revival, spoilers everything] She's always been her mother's daughter, but this is a curveball she definitely couldn't have seen coming. Slowly untangling the revival. Eventually Literati (and very Jess and Rory centric before then too).
1. Not Dancing

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, other than far too many shoes. Further disclaimer: updates might be slow, but I'm trying.**

* * *

 **Not Dancing**

" _Mom."_

" _Yeah?"_

" _I'm pregnant."_

After a few moments of silence, Rory looked at her mother again. "Mom?"

"Yeah, uh, sorry, I'm… are you sure?"

"Pretty sure. Five pregnancy tests can't be wrong, can they?"

"No, I suppose not, not unless you have like a weird tumor or something, I think that was in the news a while ago, I don't know, I didn't read it, it sounded gross. Or was it on TV? It may have been on a TV show now that I think about it." Lorelai started rambling, then stopped herself again. Before she said anything else, she refilled her champagne glass and downed it in one. "Is it Logan's? It has to be, unless the Wookie found your number and you just can't resist his mating growls? Or did you still forget to break up with Paul?"

"It's Logan's." Rory looked at her feet, kicking a leaf away with her toes.

"And he's still…?"

"Engaged? Yeah."

"Well, that's just great." Lorelai shook her head. "What the hell, Rory? What are you doing?"

"I don't know."

"Better figure it out quick, 'cause honey, it's not about to get any easier."

"Mom, I…" Rory's voice wavered.

"What, Rory? You what?"

"I don't know." She sniffed back tears, hugging her arms to herself. "Can you not just be happy for me for a minute?"

"That's what you expected?" Lorelai snorted a bitter chuckle. "You're thirty two, Rory, and you haven't had a steady job in years, you're living in your old room, and the baby daddy's marrying someone else. You're right, I'll start planning the baby shower."

"You had me at sixteen!"

"I'm sorry, did I make it sound easy? Were you sitting there writing your book and think 'hey, raising a baby alone sounds like a walk in the park, I'll give it a go'?" She stood up, wrapping her arms around herself. "I have to get some sleep before I get married again. I'll see you later." She marched out of the square, leaving a stunned Rory behind.

Fifteen minutes later, she walked into the diner, letting the door slam behind her. She headed towards the curtain but stopped, nearly running into Jess who managed to barely keep a hold of the plate in his hand.

"You ok?"

"Yeah. Peachy." She pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes. "I was going upstairs, I … I screwed up, really screwed up and mom and I got into a fight and I don't really feel like going to her place right now. I was going to go to Lane's, but she said she had to be somewhere, I can't remember, anyway, she's not home and I have nowhere else to go so is it ok if I just…?" She looked at the curtain, hoping to get out before she started crying again. "Kirk's in the square with his damn pig." She added, tilting her head back towards the square.

"Go." He told her, standing out of the way.

A couple of minutes later, he knocked on the door, holding a cup of coffee in one hand. "It's me."

" _Come in."_ She called from the other side of the door.

"I brought you some coffee." Jess set the cup down on the table in front of her. "You want to talk?" He offered and she looked at him, as if weighing up his offer.

"I don't know."

"Ok." He shrugged, unsure of what to do.

"Sorry," Rory shook her head, eyes fixed on the cup. "I just… it's all messed up, you know? Me. I'm messed up."

"I got that." He put his hands on the back of the free chair and looked at her, waiting. She glanced up, then down at the chair.

"I…"

"How about we talk about something that's not this screw up, whatever it is?" Jess offered with a small smirk.

"What, the weather?"

"I'm sure there are other things out in the world to talk about. This election's been pretty good fodder lately." He sat down, sliding the chair closer to the table.

She bit back tears, sharply turning her head to look out the window. "Sorry." She mumbled after a few seconds. "I'm…" she started again, then stopped.

"When was the last time you got any sleep?"

"A while."

"Start there." Jess said, smiling. "Nothing seems as bad when you're rested."

She chewed her bottom lip, looking at him, then nodded. "Yeah."

"If I hear you walking around, I'm telling Luke you've decided to try eating healthy for a week." He stood up again, looking at her.

"Like he'd ever buy that."

"Is that really a chance you're willing to take?" Another smirk before heading for the door.

"Jess?" Her voice stopped him and he turned around. "Can you tell me…"

"You'll be ok." He gave a short goodbye nod as she smiled gratefully, before leaving the room to go back to the diner.

* * *

"Mom?" Rory spoke tentatively, poking her head into the living room of her mother's house. "I didn't know if you still wanted me to come and help you get ready? My phone's dead." She added.

"Sit." Lorelai patted the couch next to her, picking up her coffee cup as she waited for Rory. "Coffee?"

"I don't know." Rory shrugged. "I need to look into it."

"Ah. Hence the abandoned coffee cup in the kitchen the other day." She replied as the pieces fell into place. "Rory, I…"

"Let me go first." She asked her mother and Lorelai nodded. "Everything you said? You were right. And I'm done, with the flying and the wasting time and all of it, I'm done, I'll figure things out even if I don't keep this baby. You were right." She told her again. "I'm so sorry, mom."

"Oh, kid…" Lorelai put her arm over her shoulders and pulled her into a hug. "Everything will be fine."

"Doesn't feel like it right now."

"I know." She hugged her again. "Five pregnancy tests though? Five?"

"Two multipacks. I thought maybe the first box was broken or something, they'd made them wrong? so I went back to the store and got a different brand and hey, turns out, not wrong."

"There's sure and then there's that sure." Lorelai chuckled. "When?"

"Last night. Well, last night for sure. I was in Hartford on Thursday running an errand for grandma and I checked my diary for a phone number and I realized I was really late. The first box happened that afternoon when I got home, but it took me a couple more days to actually brave up and confirm things. Because you know, it was so unlikely until then."

"Rory…" her grip tightened again, running her hand up and down Rory's shoulder. "You'll be fine." She tried to reassure her.

Rory forced a smile in return, then looked at her mother's nearly empty coffee cup. "Come on, let's get you a refill." She marched to the kitchen with Lorelai following. After refilling Lorelai's cup, she opened the fridge and pulled out a juice carton. "Juice is supposed to be good for you, right?"

"So Luke tells me everyday."

Rory poured some into a glass, then sniffed at it, suspiciously, before setting it down on the table and sitting across from her mother.

"What do you think I should do?"

"Not touching that one. I'm here whatever you decide, but I'm not even handing you a coin if you decide to flip for it, that's how out of this decision I am."

"Mom…"

"Nuh-uh." Lorelai shook her head. "Have you talked to…?"

"No." Rory sniffed at the juice again, then took a small sip and grimaced. "I was waiting until I knew what I wanted to do." She stared down at her hands, clasped around the glass. "Him and I…? We're done. We have to be done."

"Because he's engaged?"

She shook her head. "Because we tried to many times and we had so many chances and it just… we have to be done." She said again. "Not that the engagement makes things easier either." She added. "I'm going to tell him, I promise, I just want to have a plan in place before I do. If I don't, he'll open his mouth and say things and then I'll crumble and this kid, if…" she paused for a second "...this kid deserves better than us together."

"Ok." Lorelai smiled, reaching over the table and squeezing Rory's arm.

"Now if only I could figure out what this plan is… Are you sure you have no advice?"

"Very sure."

"Did you ever think about not having me?"

"Nope, teenage motherhood was always my goal." Lorelai chuckled. "It's not the same thing, Rory. You and me? Not even close."

"I know. But…"

"I thought about it. I don't think I ever made a decision, as much as I thought about it for too long that the decision was made for me."

"That's not very useful advice."

"I did say I wasn't giving you any advice." Lorelai pointed out. "Take a few days, think about what you want your life to be, five-ten years from now. Make a list, lists always help. And that's not advice."

"Of course not." Rory smiled, standing up. "Come on, grandma's gonna be here soon, we need to start getting you ready before she has a chance to object."

"Don't take away the joy of my mother's disapproval." She took a couple of steps to her daughter and wrapped her arms around her in a hug. "You will be ok. Whatever you decide. You'll be fine."

"Thanks."

"Now…" Lorelai took Rory's glass of orange juice and poured it into the sink, rinsing it quickly. She then reached into a cabinet and grabbed a paper Luke's cup and handed it to Rory. "Harder to see you're not drinking your coffee."

"Genius."

"I have my moments."

* * *

Later that evening, at the wedding.

Rory sat down next to Jess, kicking off her shoes under the table. "Don't judge."

"Hey, I said nothing." He smirked.

"Not dancing?"

"Saving myself in case a hora breaks out." He glanced over at the scotch bottle on the table. "Drink?"

"I'm ok." She shrugged. "About this morning… thank you."

"You feeling better?"

"It's amazing what a small meltdown will do to a girl."

"I'll be here all night if you need to do it again."

"Thanks." She smiled, rubbing her foot under the table. "I'm ok for now, but I'll keep it in mind, just in case."

"You and Lorelai… you looked better."

"Yeah, I think we are. I hope so, anyway." She looked at her mother, dancing with Luke. "Liz's wedding seems like a lifetime ago, I can't believe how long it's taken them."

" _I_ can't believe Liz's been married this long." Another smirk. "Apparently singing and juggling was what it took to get her to stay married longer than six months."

"We were so young." She smiled, looking at Jess. "Do you ever…?" She stopped, biting her lip and he shrugged. "I've been thinking about you, way back when. Writing this book is bringing a lot of it up. I can't figure out how to write about you. Dean? That was easy, but you… I can figure it out."

"You do it honestly." Jess shrugged. "And don't forget the leather jacket."

"That doesn't give me much."

"I was a dick. You can't make that sound better."

"You were…"

"It's ok, you won't hurt my feelings."

"I was going to say you were complicated. I was to blame too, it's not like I wasn't. And hey, I turned out to be the much bigger screw up, so take that, teenage Jess." She chuckled. "Maybe I should have gone away with you after Liz's wedding."

"Nah, you belonged at Yale." He smiled. "We had bad timing. Bad geography too. Bad a lot of things."

"The good was good though." She returned his smile.

"That it was." Another sip from his drink, not looking away from her.

"Can I send you a draft, see if you approve?"

"Yeah."

"Thank you."

"You can call, if you want to talk about book writing. Or have another meltdown."

"Very generous."

"I need to make sure you don't make me sound like too good a guy." He smirked. "I have a reputation to uphold."

"I'll mention your puppy kicking habit."

"Appreciate it."

Rory put her shoes back on, looking at the dance floor, then over at the cake table. "I'm going to go have more cake. You want some?"

"I'm ok." He shook his head.

"Thank you." She told him again, standing up. "I'll see about getting that hora started."

"Great."

"See you around."

"Have fun." He watched her go, the edge of regret he never could quite shake off sharper than usual.


	2. Bad Idea

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews.**

* * *

 **Bad idea**

The next morning.

The bridge gave slightly with a quiet creak Rory felt rather than hear as he sat down next to her.

"Hey." Jess greeted.

"Hi." She put on a smile, looking up from the water.

"Was last night's genius idea of an outdoor wedding in November not cold enough for you?" He asked with a small smirk.

"I'm acclimatized by now." She shrugged. "Did you decide to move back to Stars Hollow and no one told me?"

"Who wouldn't want to live here?"

"Asks the guy who took the first bus out," she said, a friendly tease to it. "So?"

"Didn't feel like driving back today."

"Hungover?"

"Like you wouldn't believe." He chuckled. "It was either drinking or homicide last night, I had to go for the one that wasn't going to end me in jail."

"I think you'd have walked if you'd found a judge who had been to this town."

"Now you tell me." He paused, and when he spoke again, the lighthearted tone was gone. "You marched out of the diner."

"Oh." She'd spent the night upstairs to give her mother and Luke some space. "I didn't see you."

"I was arguing with Luke about him forgetting I don't actually work there."

"Oh." Another one, while she tried to come up with something better. "Sorry?"

"It's ok, I'm not… I thought I'd come see if you needed a friend."

"That's a dangerous offer after yesterday."

"I live on the wild side." A beat, watching her. "You can tell me to get out. Using stronger words too."

"I don't want to," she told him. "It's just… hard to talk about. And it feels wrong for a lot of reasons and I'm so not sure."

"You want me to guess? That way you're not really telling me anything."

Rory smiled, biting her lip at the same time. "That would be some guess."

"Logan's?"

"How…"

"You had at least five cups of coffee handed to you last night that you passed on to your mother. And Taylor's been talking about the guy you stole a boat with coming and throwing sacks of money at him to rent out the town square… two and two."

"Man, you're good at math." She looked down at the lake again. "And now you know before he does. How screwed up is that?"

"Pretty screwed up." Jess nodded. "Why haven't you told him?"

"I'm trying to decide what I want first." She let out an audible breath. "Everything sucks and I've somehow become my mother, only I've managed to make it worse."

"I'd have assumed not being sixteen would make it better."

"That's the one thing I've got going here." She smiled, watching a passing cloud reflected in the lake. "But I'm unemployed, living with my mother and Logan… well, that's just a giant stinking mess. We broke up, that was literally the last thing we talked about, like you can even break up with someone you're not really seeing because he's marrying someone else and now this happened and what am I going to do?" She paused. "I told you it was a mess."

"Sounds like it."

"Can I ask you something?"

Jess nodded.

"How was it, growing up without Jimmy? I've been thinking about my childhood, but that doesn't feel fair, because mom's like Wonder Woman or something and I'm… not feeling very wondrous."

"You're not Liz either." He reassured her. "The things that sucked about my childhood? Having Jimmy there wouldn't have fixed them."

"Did you miss him?"

"Can you miss someone you don't know?"

"You can miss the idea of him."

"I don't know." Jess shrugged. "Maybe. It didn't bug me much." Another shrug.

"Thank you." She let go of her lip.

"Give him a chance before you decide he's going to stay out of it."

"I know him. He… I think he reminds me of dad." Rory mused, touching a leaf floating on the lake with her shoe. "He has the best intentions, but the seconds things are hard and can't be solved with money, he runs away. And that's fine, you know, for someone you see once in a while because he's safe and fun but when it comes to this?" She shook her head. "If I keep this poor kid, it's gonna have two screw ups for parents and that's not fair to it."

"You're not a screw up. I'll take your word about Logan, 'cause I've met the guy once and it didn't really go swimmingly, but you? You can do this if you want to."

"Doesn't feel that way." She sighed. "It's like I'm barely keeping myself together here, what the hell do I have to give a baby?"

"I don't think you'd be sitting here worrying about that if you didn't have something to give," Jess told her, a steadying, comforting tone to his voice.

"It'd be so freaking hard."

"Like that's ever stopped you."

"You're good to talk to, you know?" Rory smiled at him, pushing herself up to her feet. "Come on, I'm freezing. I'll buy you a book to pay you back for the therapy session."

"It's got to be worth at least two and a cup of coffee. Or whatever it is you're drinking now." He jumped up too and they both started walking towards town.

"One book, one cup of coffee. I'll have some cocoa, it's cold enough to be legit."

"Deal."

* * *

"Good evening, child." Lorelai walked into the living room of her house, throwing her purse on the couch. "And traitor dog." She frowned as Paul Anka barely looked up from where he lay, curled with his head on Rory's lap. "How are we today?"

"We're good." Rory's hand kept moving over the dog's head. "How's married life treating you?"

"My husband's working late. And here I thought it would be at least a week before the magic was gone." She sat at the end of the couch, squishing herself between the dog and the armrest. "Chubby traitor at that." Paul Anka lifted his head to look at her, then stretched out even more. "How are you? Oh, wait." She picked up her purse and dug through it for a while before she unearthed a paper bag. "Prenatals. I drove to Danbury to get them. If you keep the baby, it might be prettier with just one head. Not that you could have an ugly baby, with those cheekbones."

"Easier to find clothes for it too."

"Eh, I can sew." Lorelai grinned. "How's that going?"

"Oh, you know. I made a list last night." Rory dug out a piece of paper from her pocket, earning a disgruntled sigh from the dog in the process, then handed the list to her mother. Lorelai looked at it, the 'con' side two columns wide while the 'pro' sat empty.

"Wow, I wonder how anyone ever has kids when you put it this way."

"Doesn't look like a great idea, does it?"

"Some of these points aren't really worthy of being here though. Grandma? Really?" She lifted her eyebrows with mild disbelief.

"You don't think…?"

"I think she loves you so much, kid, that it wouldn't be an issue." Lorelai reassured her daughter.

"I don't want me and her to be you and her."

"Rory, that's… your existence didn't help us, but you're not the only thing that went wrong in there either." She said. "It's a different can of worms altogether and I don't think you have anything to worry about. She might not be happy at first, but you two aren't going to end up being us either." She looked through the list some more. "You have a pen?"

"Table." Rory pointed to it and Lorelai stretched out and got it, scribbling something down before handing the list back to Rory.

"Here."

" _The Great and Awesome Lorelai_ , _Luke_ , _Stars Hollow_." Rory read out loud from the 'pro' column.

"Thought I'd remind you that you don't have to do this on your own. Because that seems to be the theme there, with the _'lack of sleep'_ and the _'life?'_ and like fifty other things." Lorelai reached out over the dog and squeezed Rory's shoulder. "I'm here, Rory, for anything. I can babysit, actually, I can take baby to the inn with me when you're at work if you want, and Luke's pretty used to having to do middle of the night store runs."

"It wouldn't…"

"Be the same as having Logan here? I know." She acknowledged. "But you wouldn't be alone either."

"Thank you."

"Nah, you don't have to thank me. I'm only in it for the baby cuddles." Lorelai joked. "Rory, can I say something…?"

"Sure."

"I know I said I was going to stay out of it but this list… it looks to me like you're trying really hard to convince yourself having this baby isn't what you want. And I'm not going to tell you it's going to be easy, because raising a baby on your own? Really hard work and it sucks about ninety percent of the time or feels like it, anyway. But the same way I would be telling you not to have a kid you don't want, I am telling you that if you want to, you can do it."

"But…"

"Logan and journalism and dreams and life and whatever else was on the list…?" Lorelai looked at the paper still in Rory's hands. "You can still do everything you want. And it might turn out that what you want changes completely and that would be ok too."

"The way it's turning out that what I want is to keep this baby…?" She finally admitted out loud.

"Yeah. That way." Lorelai pushed the dog off the couch and he jumped down. "It's ok to want to do the thing that feels like a bad idea." She made her way across the couch and wrapped her arm around Rory's shoulders.

"And I won't ruin its life?"

"Oh, Rory, don't ever worry about that. There are many people in the world who shouldn't have kids. But you? You're going to be just fine."

Rory smiled, nodding and hugging Lorelai back. "I'm going to hold you to that offer to help."

"Anything you need," she told her again.

"Now I just need to figure out a way to make it work."

"Can you force Taylor to pay you for the Gazette?"

"Probably not. But Headmaster Charleston's offer? I think I can maybe do that."

"Oh. That's…"

"Not journalism, I know, but I'd like to have something more stable than the last few years. I did say I was going to pull myself together, didn't I? I'll give him a call, see if it's still on the table and if an online Masters would be ok. Maybe even do some part time work there, or at Stars Hollow High? while I get the degree just so I'm getting some money in and not bleeding out my trust fund."

"I bet grandma would help with paying for college. It would only cost you a kidney and handing over naming rights."

"Grandpa put some money aside for me to go back to school too. But I'd like to be earning something."

"That's a pretty solid plan to come up with on the spot."

"What can I say, Paul Anka's pretty helpful." Rory laughed. "No, I've been thinking about it for a while, before _the thing_ happened. I'd have time to work on the book too, I missed the enrollment date for winter, so I wouldn't start classes until summer. How feasible that would be with a baby…"

"Lorelai Poppins at your disposal." Lorelai interrupted. "I'd be so cute in the white dress and hat."

"Mom, no. No."

"Hush." She chuckled. "This leaves you with one more thing."

"Telling Logan? I know."

"And…"

"Paul Anka wasn't much help withat that." Rory smiled, bending down to scratch the dog's ears. "I'll give myself a couple of days, set this plan in motion and then I'll give him a call or something. Take it from there."

"And if he decided to leave his French heiress…?"

"That's a pretty unlikely bridge, but if it happens, I'll cross it when I get to it."

"After answering these questions three?"

"I hope one of them is about dinner, I'm starving."

"All three questions are about dinner." Lorelai picked up her phone from her purse. "So?"

"Let's start with pizza. We'll go from there, some Chinese food may be needed later."

"We'll even get some vegetables on it, that'll keep baby having just one head."

"Is that how it works?"

"Hey, you only have one, it definitely worked." She grinned, dialing the pizza place number.


	3. Tell

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews.**

* * *

 **Tell**

"That bus hasn't gotten any better in the last fifteen years." Rory sighed, sitting across from her mother in the diner. "Actually, I'm pretty sure it's the same bus it was back then."

"I told you to take the car." Lorelai argued back with a smile.

"You had to get to work. I'll buy a car eventually."

"Eventually soon."

"Very soon." She nodded, grabbing a handful of fries off Lorelai's plate. "Do you think Luke will mind sacrificing a weekend to help me get one?"

"Please, he'll probably make you sit in a corner while he picks for you." Lorelai grinned, glancing at her husband, before pushing her plate closer to Rory. "So, how did it go?"

"I have a job. Charleston said that as long as I'm enrolled somewhere reputable, he would be more than happy to have me on board. I'll be starting September with the next school year. It's only part-time, because I can't imagine swinging teaching, the degree and the you-know-what otherwise, but it should keep me afloat as long as I can find something cheap to rent in town."

"You're moving out?"

Rory shrugged. "I wasn't sure you'd want me and you-know-what living there."

"Nuh-uh, you and your you-know-what can stay as long as you want. My rent is very reasonable, just buy pizza once in a while."

"I've seen how much pizza you eat, rent would be cheaper," she chuckled. "You sure you don't mind?"

"Yes."

"And Luke doesn't mind?"

Lorelai lifted the menu from the table, showing her the framed article. "Super-proud Luke?"

"I have a feeling he's not going to be super-proud Luke for too long."

"Oh, Rory, you have to stop thinking that. No one is disappointed in you, ok? You're not sixteen, trust me, you've got a leg up here."

"Yeah." She nodded, still sounding unconvinced. "I should go, I have to check in at the paper and then head home and finally call Logan."

"You don't want lunch first?"

"I could do with some pie. If I get cherry pie, it's like eating better, right?"

"Pretty much, yeah." Lorelai nodded. "Oh, Luuuke!" she called for her husband and he popped out from the kitchen. "Rory needs pie and I need a refill."

"What kind of pie?"

"Cherry!" Rory replied.

"Give me a minute."

"I love that you broke him," she smiled, looking at her mother. "You should tell him."

"What?"

"About the … we need a code word here."

"The job?" Lorelai suggested and Rory nodded in reply.

"Yes. About the job. You guys are married, he should know and I don't know how long it's going to take me to tell Logan so I really don't want to make you wait. And Jess knows, so it's not like it's a big secret anyway."

"Jess?" Lorelai lifted her eyebrows in confusion. "You told Jess?"

"I was having a crappy day yesterday, he guessed. It's a long story."

"That's some guess."

Rory shrugged instead of answering, eating another fry.

"What's the deal there? Is there a deal?"

"No deal. We're friends. Like now's the time for deals with guys anyway." She rolled her eyes as she answered.

"Ok." This time Lorelai sounded unconvinced, but stopped herself from saying more.

"Coffee, pie. Rory, you need coffee?" Luke asked, walking up to the table and filling Lorelai's cup.

"Can you put it in a to-go cup, please, I need to head out soon."

"Sure thing." He headed back to the counter and Rory started digging into the pie.

"You know he'll make you eat your vegetables, right?" Lorelai looked at her husband, then back at Rory. "Are you sure about this?"

"Tell him." Rory nodded. "Just… can you ask him not to make a big deal about it? I'm still working on figuring out how I feel about it, I don't know how I'd deal with Luke too."

"Whatever you need." Lorelai reassured her.

* * *

"Upstairs!" Lorelai grabbed Luke by the back of his shirt, waving an arm towards the curtain as soon as Rory was out of sight.

"Wha…?"

"Upstairs! Now!" She told him again, practically dragging him with her.

"I have a diner…"

"Caesar, you're in charge!" she shouted towards the kitchen, before pushing the curtain aside and starting to march up the stairs. "Ok, sit down." She told Luke as soon as he closed the door behind him.

"What's…"

"I've been dying to tell you since Sunday but I couldn't, because it's not my thing to tell, you know? but it feels like you should know and I really need to talk about it with you and I was going to burst if she didn't say it was ok to tell you soon, but she did, so we're good and you're still not sitting down!"

"Lorelai, what's going on?"

"Sit down!" She pointed to one of the chairs and Luke finally sat, practically teetering on the edge. "Rory's pregnant." She announced as soon as he was down.

"What?!" The man shot back up. "Lorelai, if this is some kind of joke…"

"Oh, don't I wish it was."

"Whose…? I bet it's Logan's, isn't it? Taylor was talking about that little punk marching in and buying out the town."

"Yeah, it's Logan's. She hasn't told him yet."

"But she is going to tell him, right? Because…"

"Yeah, don't worry. She's definitely going to tell him." Lorelai ran her hand over his arm. "I just… God, I'm so disappointed. I've been trying to be nice and supportive because I remember staring at that stick thinking my life was over and I don't want to Emily her, but this is not what I wanted her life to be!" She sighed, looking down at her feet for a moment, arms wrapped around herself. "She says she's going to pull herself together and it's looking like she might, she's got a job at Chilton and a plan, you know, it sounds like she's got a good plan in place, but I'm so worried about her, Luke. I wanted more for her. I wanted her to have someone who'd go to the store in the middle of the night and who'd take turns with the baby so she can sleep and who'd do all the things you want someone to do and she's… she's not going to have any of that and it breaks my heart. Not the way she should have." She stopped her rant with another sigh and Luke wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in a tight hug.

"She'll be ok. She's a smart kid, she's got this."

"She's not a kid anymore." She hugged him back.

"She'll be fine." He told her again, kissing her temple. "Is she staying with us? You've told her we're here for everything, right?"

"Yeah."

"Tell her again."

Lorelai smiled, nodding.

"Do you think she'll want this place?" Luke asked, looking around. "We can do it up for her if she wants some more space. But she should be with us, we can help with the baby. I'll go to the store in the middle of the night. When's she due?"

"Summer sometime, I don't know."

"You should offer this place, but make sure she doesn't think we're kicking her out."

"Luke, you don't have to…"

"It'll stop TJ from trying to convince me to turn it into a poker parlor."

"Ok, I'll mention it to her."

"And tell her I'll paint. We can get her some new furniture, that bed is about a hundred years old. Maybe put up a wall so the baby can have its own room."

"I will." Lorelai smiled, kissing him. "Thank you. I got pretty lucky with you."

"Nah…"

"Don't argue." She stopped him with another kiss. "I have to get back to work."

"Caesar's probably burnt the whole place down."

"We'd smell smoke if he had. By the way, she doesn't want you to make a big deal out of it."

"What do I say to her?"

"Act normal." She shrugged, going out the door again.

* * *

" _You left your bribe with my books."_ She texted, looking at the book Jess had chosen mixed in with her pile.

" _Figured."_ Her phone buzzed a few minutes later, then again immediately after. _"Look after it until Christmas."_

" _Not coming over for Thanksgiving?"_

" _Not sure."_

" _You should think about it. Mom's started to talk about all the food she's making Luke make already."_ She told him. _"Is it still bribery if I return the book read?"_

" _Yeah."_

" _Good to know."_ She picked up her cup of decaf and took a sip before putting it back down. _"How's work?"_

" _Debating if I can beat myself to death with manuscripts."_

" _You'd probably pass out before dying."_

" _I'll find something else. You?"_

" _Not contemplating manuscript-suicide."_ She curled up on the chair. " _Procrastinating on a college application."_

" _?"_

" _Got a teaching job at Chilton, need a Master's. Penn State World, so I'll be sort of virtually in your corner of the world."_

" _A guy I work with got a degree from them, let me know if you want me to ask him anything."_

" _Will do, thanks."_ Rory replied. _"I should let you get back to your manuscripts."_

Her phone buzzed after a second with a picture of stack of papers, looking dangerously close to toppling over. _"Please don't."_

" _Hah, fine. I can tell you what excellent taste in books I have. Remember the one you said was going to suck? It didn't."_

" _Right."_

" _I can hear the sarcasm from here. Now I'll have to force you to read it."_

" _Can't suck more than my current piles of crap."_

* * *

"Rory?" Lorelai peered into her daughter's room later that night, door slightly ajar.

"Hey." She greeted back from where she lay on the bed with a pillow over her head.

"Are you ok?"

"Do I look ok?"

"I don't know if the pillow for a hat fashion statement's going to take off, but you always look pretty." She sat down on the edge of the bed next to her daughter. "What's up?"

"Argh!" Rory lowered the pillow, sitting up and gesticulating angrily at her open computer screen. "How is it that I can write everything but this stupid email?"

"Oh, honey…" Lorelai ran her hand over her daughter's hair, smoothing it down. "Did calling him…"

"Even worse an idea." She shook her head, thinking back to the hour she'd spent staring at her phone, trying to press call. "I can't do it, I can't listen to his voice while I ruin his life. If his fiancée finds out…"

"Rory, no. You're not ruining his life."

"Feels like it."

"Ok, this is his doing as much as yours. If he didn't want to risk his fiancée finding out about him cheating, he shouldn't have cheated. Now, if you want to give him out on being in the baby's life, that's up to you and I'll support you in that decision, but he made his own bed here."

"Right, 'cause what I was doing to Paul…"

"Was also crap, but that doesn't cancel his crap out. That's not how life works, just because you screwed up too it doesn't make him any better."

"Mom…"

"No." Lorelai shook her head. "You shouldn't feel guilty about this." She softened her voice, hoping she'd get across to her daughter.

"Tell me how, ok? Tell me how I should stop feeling guilty about the possibility of hurting a man I've been in love with for so long." Rory sounded close to pleading, then took a deep breath and threw her pillow down. "Come on, let's get some food, I'll feel better." She jumped off the bed.

Lorelai followed her daughter as she marched into the kitchen, stopping by to pick up the nearly full coffee cup.

"Rory…"

"Not talking about Logan."

"Ok." Lorelai nodded. "Ew, this smells like…"

"Decaf." Rory confirmed. "And don't you dare mock, I found the bag in your kitchen."

"Luke's misguided attempt at getting me to cut back. You've just encouraged him now."

"Did you tell him?"

"Yes. He says I should ask you if you want the diner apartment, but make sure I do it so you don't think you're getting kicked out. Because you're definitely not. But if you want more space and privacy…"

Rory sat down, biting her lip. "That wouldn't be too bad, actually."

"Ah, I'm hurt! You want to leave the nest just weeks after coming back?"

"You guys need more privacy too, you just got married," she pointed out. "And it'd be nice to have all my stuff in one place."

"I will tell him." Lorelai smiled.

"You don't mind?"

"No, no, abandon me." She sighed, trying to sound as dramatic as she could. "Whatever you want to do, it's fine. You can try living there for a while and then move back in if you decide it was easier having us here after baby comes. Anything."

"I'll pay him rent."

"Hah." Lorelai snorted. "Good luck with that."

"Fine, I'll sneak a twenty in the diner till once in a while."

"Sounds more plausible. Marshmallow?" Lorelai held out the bag to her daughter.

"Thanks." Rory replied, taking a handful out of the bag.

"What do you want for dinner?"

"I'll have leftover pizza. I'm beat." She sighed, eating a marshmallow. "It feels like I haven't slept in a week."

"There's wedding cake too."

"I'll take it."

"Chocolate definitely comes from a plant." Lorelai chuckled, pulling out the cake from the fridge.

* * *

Later that night, Rory lay in bed again, staring at the ceiling and the faint pattern the curtains and streetlight drew on it. Then, without letting herself think any longer about what she was going to do, she picked up her phone from the nightstand and opened her email.

 _"Logan,_

 _I'm pregnant. It's yours. I don't want anything. Please don't call."_

Then she hit send.


	4. Leftover

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews.**

* * *

 **Leftover**

Rory sat at the kitchen table, three hours of restless sleep under her belt, trying to read a magazine article. Her phone sat silent across from her, no sign of any reply yet. She heard movement in the house and looked up, seeing Luke walk into the kitchen.

"Sorry, I didn't know… did I wake you?" he mumbled, clearly uneasy, fumbling with the baseball cap in his hands.

"No. Didn't even hear you."

"I was just looking for my keys. Paul Anka…" he started to explain, then stopped. "Your mom told me."

"I know."

"You ok?" He sounded worried and she smiled.

"I'm ok."

"You need anything, you let me know."

Rory nodded. "Thank you."

"I'll get some paint samples today, you can have a look around the place and pick one whenever you feel like it."

"I'll convince mom not to sing painting songs this time around." Another smile. "Luke? I told him." Not sure if she said it because she wanted him to know or because saying it out loud made it real.

"What'd he say?"

"Nothing yet." She pointed to her phone. "Your keys are next to the monkey lamp. I rescued them from Paul Anka."

"Thanks." He put the hat on. "Drop by the diner later, I'll make you a proper breakfast." He pointed at the box of Cocoa Puffs on the table

* * *

" _You never told me what the book was."_ Her phone buzzed and, for the first time that day, she found herself not annoyed that it wasn't Logan.

" _I still can't remember."_

" _Can't have been that good then."_

" _Maybe it's my memory that's just not that good."_ She smiled. " _What are you up to?"_

" _Trying to find something to watch and forget about all the election bull. You?"_

" _Same, but wondering if mom will kick me out if she comes home to pizza for the third night in a row."_

" _Has Lorelai ever said no to pizza?"_

" _No. Luke will kill us both though. Dead and kicked out, my fate is grim."_

" _Get it before he gets back from the diner, pretend it's leftovers."_

" _Good plan. Have you decided what you're watching?"_ She scrolled through Netflix on the computer, looking at the list of movies.

" _Not yet. Any suggestions?"_

" _Netflix just added_ The Lizzie Maguire Movie _, can't go wrong."_

" _Is it your taste in movies or books that's worse?"_

" _Shut up."_ She chuckled. " _I'm thinking classic horror tonight, because I really need cheering up after the election results."_ Some distraction from the waiting wouldn't hurt either.

"Jaws _is on TV."_

" _Perfect."_ She closed her laptop screen and moved to the living room, picking up the remote and flicking away from the news quickly until she found the movie. " _I can't even count how many times I've seen this."_

" _I'm up to double digits too."_

" _Mom and I might be getting close to triple digits, I think. Have you ever heard her Brody?"_

" _Repeatedly, and it sucked every time."_

" _I'll pass that on when she gets back."_

" _Don't, it'll just encourage her."_

" _That's the point, if I have to suffer, we all have to suffer."_ She nestled on the couch, hugging a pillow tightly, phone in the other hand. " _They never listen to poor Brody."_

* * *

"There's green stuff in this. Green." Rory grimaced, looking down at her dinner. "Mom!" She threw a desperate look at her mother.

"Hey, he put green stuff in mine too."

"It's good for you." Luke rolled his eyes at their dramatics. "And it's spinach, stop acting like it's poison."

"She's the pregnant one, why do I need to eat green stuff?"

"Sympathy?" Rory suggested.

"I really don't like you that much," Lorelai grinned. "Pass the pizza."

Luke scoffed at them, waving his hands towards the plate. "I had to go to the store to buy stuff for this!"

"You should have known better. Green is unnatural. Name me one candy that's green." Lorelai told him.

Luke rolled his eyes again, then looked at the pizza box. "Hey, that's a different one from last night."

Rory shook her head. "It's leftovers."

"It's nearly whole!"

"Well, I had a slice and this is what's left over. So technically…" Rory countered again.

"Baby wanted pizza, right?" Lorelai jumped to her daughter's defense, grabbing a slice. "You can't deny baby."

The doorbell rang and Luke glared at Lorelai. "Did you order Chinese too?"

"No." She shook her head. "Rory?"

"No."

"Maybe Al is changing his menu again and he's testing it on us." Lorelai shrugged, setting the pizza slice on her plate, careful to avoid any of the vegetables. "What, I swear I didn't order anything!" She lifted her hands in the air, defensively, seeing her husband's still upset face.

She walked to the door, Paul Anka right behind her. "Ok, it's definitely not Chinese, because you're not going anywhere near any of their delivery guys." She mused to herself as she opened the door, finding Logan standing on the other side. "Oh."

"Is…"

"I'll get her. Wanna come inside?"

He shook his head, taking a step away from the door. Lorelai rushed back to the kitchen, grabbing the dog's collar to get him to follow her. "It's Logan." She mouthed to Rory.

She inhaled, sharply, deeply, then nodded once and stood up.

"You ok?" Lorelai asked, putting her hand on Rory's arm as she walked past her and she nodded again, mouth too dry to actually speak.

"Hi, Ace." Logan greeted her as she opened the door, leaning against the railing. She tilted her head towards the sofa outside and they both sat down. "I didn't call."

"No, you didn't," she smiled at herself, because she felt like an idiot at not having expected it.

"A baby, Ace? We're having a baby?"

"That's what the stick said. I have a doctor's appointment in a couple of weeks."

"Ok." He paused, taking a breath in. "I'm gonna leave Odette."

"No, you're not." It came out so suddenly she could have almost believed it had been just a loud thought inside her head, were it not for the sudden change in his expression.

"I get it, things with us have been weird lately," he spoke again, recovering just as quickly, "but that doesn't mean anything. I'll fly back tonight and break up with her as soon as I get back. You can come with me if you want, I promise, I'll do it, and then we can get a place somewhere out of London, with a nice back yard and I'll be one of those guys who takes the train into London every day and then complains about it. It'll be great, you'll see."

"Logan, stop," she asked him, nearly pleading. "You're not going to leave because you don't want to. She makes you happy."

"You…"

"I don't. You and I? We're good at flying to a private island for a week, or buying out inns or jumping off tall scaffoldings…" she smiled at the memory, reaching out and taking his hand. "We're only good when it's easy to be happy. But the day to day? That hasn't worked for us in years, and life's a lot more of that than the adventures. You're not with Odette because of your family, because if you were, that would make you either the world's biggest idiot or a character in some Victorian novel, and you're neither of those things." She looked down at their hands clasped together briefly, then back up at him. "Stay with her. Be happy with her. We'll figure something out."

"Ace, come on…"

"Tell me it's not true." She smiled and he stayed quiet. "It's ok, Logan." She squeezed his hand.

"It's a good picture though. You, me, our kid? It's a pretty damn good picture." He smiled, letting go of her hand and draping his arm over her shoulder instead, into a small hug. "What are we going to do about this baby?"

"You can do whatever you want." She relaxed into his hug. "I meant when I said I don't need anything. I've got a job, I'm getting a place in town, mom's gonna help. I've got a plan worked out. So if you want to stay out of it? We'll be ok over here. I'll send you pictures if you want, you can meet the baby once it's here, whatever, we don't need to figure all the specifics now. But…" she took a deep breath and pulled away so she can look at him. "If you choose to be in, you're going to have to really be in. I grew up with a dad who was only here when it was convenient for him, that's not an option."

"I…"

"You can take some time and think about it."

Logan nodded. "Yeah."

"Can you just… can you email next time?" She asked and he nodded again. "Goodbye, Logan." She stood up, raising her hand in a small wave, then headed back inside without giving him a chance to respond.

She stopped by the door, wrapping her arms around herself, holding herself in, waiting until she heard the car engine. Once it faded in the distance she headed back to the kitchen, finding Lorelai alone, waiting for her.

"You…"

Rory shook her head, opening the door to her bedroom and going inside, sitting on the edge of the bed, clutching the blanket tightly in her fists. She took a deep breath, then another, and another, until her heart settled again. "Mom?" She nearly whispered but Lorelai jumped up, coming into the room and sitting next to her on the bed.

"What happened?"

"He offered to leave Odette."

"What?"

"I told him not to," Rory said, looking down at her feet. "You know, I kept thinking for a really long time that that was what I wanted, but then he said it, and it just sounded like the stupidest idea in the world."

"Why?"

"Because we're really bad together." She smiled. "And I don't love him. Not love love, anyway. We've been riding nostalgia and leftover love and that was fine for what we had, whatever that was, but we can't make a relationship work on that. And we definitely can't raise a kid together on that." Another smile, then she tried to breathe back the tears that were building up behind her eyes. "Still hurts like hell though."

"I know, honey. I know." Lorelai try to sooth her, giving her a big hug. "Let me go get some ice cream, that'll…"

"I'm ok." Rory shook her head, trying to clear it. "I'm scared, mom. So scared. Because up until ten minutes ago I could pretend there was going to be a picket fence and now it's gone and I am terrified."

"I know."

"How did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Raise me like you did. Because I'm scouring my brains here, trying to think of any way that I can be even half as good as you were…"

"You're only saying that because you don't remember all the times I was crap when you were a baby." Lorelai joked. "The coffee alone would get CPS involved these days. You do it one minute at a time and hope the bad times don't stick."

"And if they do?"

"You hope the good ones outweigh them enough that your kid forgives you."

Rory hugged her mother this time, holding tightly to her. "I love you, mom."

"Oh, kid, I love you too."

"Want to go watch a movie or something? I need a distraction like you wouldn't believe."

"We all do, honey, have you seen the election results?" Lorelai chuckled, standing up. "If I get ice cream, it's definitely not going to be wallowing ice cream, just Luke put green stuff in my dinner and I haven't recovered yet ice cream."

"Definitely." Rory followed her mother out.

* * *

Lying in bed late that night, Rory kept running her fingers up and down her stomach, mindlessly, trying to get her mind to shut up long enough so she could get some sleep. Her phone buzzed on the side table and she unplugged it, opening her email.

" _Hey Ace,_

 _I think it's best for everyone if I stay out of it. Take care of yourself."_


	5. Thanksgiving

**A/N: Last couple of chapters have been a bit too low on actual Jess and Rory stuff, so this one's all them. Hope you enjoy. Thank you for the reviews.**

* * *

 **Thanksgiving**

Two weeks later.

"Ha! Told you I'd wear you down." Rory grinned as Jess walked into the empty diner, late on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, carrying his duffel bag. He set it down on the ground and sat at her table.

"If you're going to gloat the entire time, I'm going back." He smirked, glancing at her computer screen. "Book?"

"It's not finished." She slammed the lid of the laptop shut to keep it away from his prying eyes.

"I read a lot of drafts, I can handle it."

"I assume most of them aren't only halfway done."

"I can figure out the rest of the plot."

"Look, you can get it once I'm done writing it, but until then? No dice. But while we're on the subject…"

"No." Jess stood up, walking behind the counter and getting himself a cup of coffee. "You want anything?"

"Donut, please. Chocolate. See, this is why Luke forgets you don't actually work here."

"I wouldn't have to resort to this if he was actually here."

"I am here!" Luke grumbled, coming out from the kitchen, holding a dish towel in his hand. "Sit down." He pointed back at the table and Jess took his cup with him before going back to it. "At least have some pie. It's got fruit in it." Luke asked Rory.

"If we compromise on a jam donut, will that count?"

"Your mother has ruined you." He mumbled under his breath, getting her a chocolate donut anyway. "You want anything?" He asked Jess and he shook his head.

"I ate. Liz said she was saving me some dinner, thought I'd best be on the safe side."

"Ok. Don't let him get back behind the counter," Luke asked Rory before heading back to the kitchen.

"You know, avoiding the subject of your novel won't make me back off."

"I'm not avoiding it, I already told you no." Jess smirked, drinking some of his coffee. "I need to do some editing on the thing before I let anyone else at it." Not that he'd even looked at his manuscript lately, because he somehow kept finding himself texting her every time he was free. He pushed the thought back with more coffee. "It's going to be a while."

"How long a while?"

"Like I'm dumb enough to answer that."

"Ballpark."

"So you can hound me with it?"

"I'm hurt you'd suggest such a thing." Rory laughed.

"How long is it going to take you to finish your book?"

"Fine." She sighed in defeat. "Oh, speaking of books, give me a minute!" She jumped to her feet, grabbing the donut before rushing behind the counter, leaving Jess sitting alone at the table.

Five minutes later, he knocked on the half-open door to the diner apartment.

"Come in!" She called from where she sat on a box, picking up books from another one in front of her and looking at their spines.

"You ok?"

"Yeah, I just thought I'd put your book on top of one of these boxes and I can't find it now!" She mumbled, frustrated, as she kept looking through the books. "Sorry, I didn't mean to abandon you."

"'S ok." He took another step into the room. "The brown's gone." He remarked, looking at the walls, the old wooden panels gone, all of it painted over a very light blue.

"What do you think?"

"It's nice."

"You should have heard mom's suggestions. She's been on an HGTV kick lately. I'm letting her make the curtains, which was the only thing we can find some middle ground on. No, wait, it was that an finding the weirdest paint name in a suitable shade. _Letters To Juliet_ , by the way. Whatever happened to blue, right?" Rory stood up, setting the books down. "I still need to sort out what furniture comes back and what I need to replace. I only moved in a couple of days ago." She explained, waving around at the openness of the space, with only a handful of things in other than the boxes. "It's why I'm eating all my meals downstairs. Not that donuts count as meals, but it's all I can stomach most of the time." She walked to the kitchen where the table had been.

"This the kid?" He asked, looking at an ultrasound picture stuck to the fridge with a magnet.

"Yeah." She looked at the picture too. "Had a doctor's appointment this morning."

"And?"

"It's all looking normal."

"Good." Jess smiled.

"And there's only one kid, so I can finally stop freaking out about that."

"You could have _Parent Trap_ ped them."

"Logan does already conveniently live in London." She finally looked away from the ultrasound. "It's weird, you know, how much you can love something that's the size of a dime." She gushed, then stopped herself. "Sorry."

"Nah, don't be." He reassured her, tilting his head towards the boxes. She nodded and then went to sit down on one, and Jess followed, sitting across from her. "How's the rest of it going?"

"You mean Logan?"

"Yeah."

"I told him." She shrugged, locking her fingers together. "He's out," she said with a small shake of her head.

"You want me to kick his ass?"

"No. I gave him the option, I can't really be mad at him for taking it. I don't get it, choosing not to be in your kid's life, but I don't have a fiancée and family fortune to lose here, so maybe I'm not really seeing his side either. Actually, I'll have to get back to you on that family fortune front after I tell grandma." She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, chewing at it. "I just…"

"Yeah?" He nudged her to continue.

"I asked him to either be consistent or not be here at all, because I can't imagine this kid growing up the way I did, with a dad who shows up when it's good for him, and what if that would have been enough, you know? What if this kid would have rather have that and it's all on me?"

"It's not on you. It's his choice."

"Feels like I pushed him."

"You haven't decided the rest of your life here. You can talk to him again later on, if the kid's ok with the 'something's better than nothing' approach."

"I suppose."

"Hey, he's the crap one here, ok?" Jess told her, getting a small smile out of her.

"Yeah," this time, her voice sounded a little more convinced. "Sorry, I think I'll have to buy you another book now for this therapy session."

"You'll probably end up losing that one too."

"How about if I bribe you with a movie instead?" She pointed to the TV, the one big focal point in the room other than the bed. "This sitting on boxes thing isn't great but… sorry, you have to go to Liz's, don't you?" She remembered.

"Yeah, like I'm in a rush for that. I'm here until Sunday, I'll get plenty of time to contemplate the many things that make me want to murder TJ."

"Pretty sure you're all doing it out of pity for me, but I'll take it. You want some decaf? I don't know if Luke still has the diner's machine running with regular."

"I'll take the decaf."

"Give me a minute."

* * *

The next afternoon, Jess and Doula walked up to the Gilmore house, following a few steps behind Liz and TJ. Jess spotted Rory sitting on the outside couch and gave his half-sister a small smile.

"Go inside, I'll catch up," he told her, and the girl nodded, rushing to catch up to her parents and waving to Rory on the way past. "Is that Lorelai in there watching football?" He asked, looking through the window into the living room. She put her book down on the couch, shrugging.

"Luke wanted it on and she's trying out the supportive wife shtick."

"So basically she's sitting there complaining about the fact that they're actually playing sports?" Jess sat down next to her.

"With some comments thrown in about the tight shorts."

"See you're still embracing the outdoor life."

"Oh, yeah, I'm a regular Bear Grylls." She chuckled. "Food smell was making me queasy."

"Living above a diner must be a great time then."

"I spend a lot of time at the Gazette when it's bad," Rory explained. "I didn't think of it before I agreed to the move and then poor Luke stayed up all night to finish ripping out the walls and painting, so I don't have the heart to tell him."

"Sounds like Luke."

"Yeah. He's been so great. Mom too. I think she's still a little mad, but she's hasn't said anything about it so…" She smiled, looking over her shoulder at her mother inside the house. "You and Doula looked like you were having a nice talk."

"She just got into the _Harriet the Spy_ books and was telling me about them."

"She has good taste."

"I'll have to find a copy, I have no clue what she was talking about."

"What did you read when you were ten?"

"I had access to the second biggest library in the country, I wasn't going to waste it on kids' books." He smirked.

"Doula's why you've been spending so much time around these past few years, isn't it?" Rory asked, watching him. "Mom's been talking." She added as an explanation.

"She needs someone sane in her life. Liz and TJ… they're not crap, but she should know there's someone here if they join another cult or whatever."

"It's nice of you. And I'll drop it now," she added. "Come on, let's go inside, food should be nearly ready."

"You gonna be ok?"

"Guess we'll find out." She stood up, taking her book with her.

* * *

"Not so good, huh?" Jess asked, walking into Lorelai's bedroom less than an hour later, finding Rory sitting on the floor at the foot of the bed, staring at the open bathroom door.

"Ugh." She groaned in reply. "Sorry. Kirk was right about the bathroom floor, by the way, if you were wondering. Much easier on the knees."

"You need anything?"

Rory shook her head.

"You want me to get Lorelai?"

She shook her head again.

"How about if I sit with you for a while?" He offered, looking at the floor and she nodded. "I'll find something to watch." He picked up the remote, turning the tv on and sitting down next to her. " _The Exorcist_?"

"You're hilarious."

"Fine, something with Bear in it it is."

"Jess?" She rested her head back against the bed. "Thank you."

"What is it with your mother's obsession with Lifetime movies?" He glided over her comment.

"Those are all Luke's."

"Should have guessed." Jess smirked.

* * *

"I'm on twenty solid minutes of not feeling sick." Rory announced a while later, checking her watch.

"Really? 'Cause this movie is making me nauseous."

"We can go back downstairs if you want."

"And not find out who killed the ingénue college student?"

"It was the roommate. She's in love with the professor and thought they were having an affair." She told him, standing up. "I watched this the other day."

"You could have told me sooner." Jess stood to his feet too, following her to the door. Before she opened it, she stopped, looking at him, chewing her lip.

"Jess?"

"Yeah?"

"Why were you here? You drove all the way to Stars Hollow for Thanksgiving and you wound up spending half the day in this room, watching me nap and puke my way through some crap made for TV movies."

He paused, running a hand through his hair to give himself a moment. "You were here when I felt like a screw up. I'm just returning the favor."

"You were never a screw up. You were a kid."

"You're not one either."

"You've told me that already."

"Waiting for you to believe me." He smiled. "And you're making it sound all self-sacrificial, it's not like downstairs was any better. Luke and TJ kept taking turns explaining football to your mother, the movies were actually an improvement."

"Oh, good, as long as this was the better choice," she chuckled. "If I thank you again, are you going to ignore me again? It's the spirit of this whole holiday and you're really ruining it for me."

"I wouldn't know, I've been here all day."

"Jess? Just this once, let me…" she stopped and looked at him for a few seconds, before speaking again. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Ok, I have about an hour window here to get some food in me, come on." Rory opened the door, heading back downstairs.


	6. Hitch

**A/N: Sorry, this chapter's been an actual pain to write. Thank you for the reviews.**

* * *

 **Hitch**

The next evening.

"You owe me," Jess walked into Rory's apartment as soon as she opened the door.

"What?"

"You owe me." He repeated, sitting on the couch. Realizing something, he looked at her. "You have a couch."

"Mom dragged me out today."

"And you managed to score same day delivery on Black Friday?"

"Have you tried saying no to my mother?" Rory laughed, sitting next to him. "Why do I owe you?"

"Because _my_ mother cornered me today and hounded me about you."

"What?"

"She thinks it's my kid."

"Oh, God." Rory covered her face with her hands. "I'm so sorry, Jess. So, so sorry."

"It's funny." He shrugged, trying to get her to relax. "She just saw you were sick, assumed you're pregnant and just drew her own insane conclusions from there."

"And?"

"I told her I don't know anything, but, if it's true, it's not my kid." Another shrug, and the oddest hitch in his chest that went away before he could think about it. "We should have seen this coming."

Rory nodded. "Yeah. Damn, everyone in town's gonna think the same thing, aren't they?" She realized.

"Probably."

"I'll put it in the Gazette, front page: _Not Jess's baby_ ," Rory said, with a small chuckle. "I'm sor…"

"Forget it."

"Jess…"

He shook his head.

"Fine, but I promise I'll tell them you have nothing to do with it as soon as the news comes out."

"When's that happening?" He asked.

"I don't know. There's rumors flying already, but no one's come out and asked me or mom, so I'm playing dumb. It's… it's hard to be happy about it most of the time?" She let out a sigh. "Not that I don't want this kid, nothing like that, because God, my life would be so much easier if I didn't, but wanting it and being happy about it are so far apart right now, particularly this week, with the constant puking and tiredness and the seeing everyone else at the doctor's office with their kids' dads there? I'm just waiting to feel ok with it before I announce it to everyone in this place," she tried to explain. "Does that sound terrible?"

"No."

"Feels pretty terrible." She chuckled.

"You know you're going to eventually have to give yourself a break, right?"

"Why?"

"Because otherwise you're going to go crazy?" He suggested.

"I'll try to stop just short of that." She bit her lip, a small smile curling its corners. "What do I owe you for this? Because a heart to heart with Liz must be above books." She changed the subject before he could say anything more. "Speaking of…" She remembered and stood up, going to grab a book from the counter, handing it to him. "Here."

" _Harriet_." Jess smirked, looking at the cover.

"Just in case Doula won't let you borrow her copy." She sat back down again. "So?"

"How about a movie?"

"You think spending more time here's going to help your side with Liz when she asks about it again?"

"I don't plan on being alone with her again, I just stupidly assumed coffee was safe."

"Ok. Is Thai food ok?"

"Yeah." Jess nodded.

"Good. You pick a movie while I order." She handed him the remote, then stood up to grab her phone.

* * *

"I cannot believe you'd never seen _The African Queen_." Rory sighed as the movie ended.

"I cannot believe I thought for a second you might actually let me pick."

"You can't tell me you've never seen a classic and expect me to let it stand. My mother has taught me better. Did you at least enjoy it?"

"It wasn't bad."

"High praise," she said, smiling.

"Tomorrow night, my pick."

"Definitely."

"Like I'm dumb enough to believe that's going to happen." He smirked, standing up and putting his coat on. "I'll bring pizza."

"Extra cheese?"

"I've seen you eat." He nodded. "Thanks again." He picked up the book and slid it in his pocket.

"Another giant gap in your knowledge that I could not allow to continue."

"Eight o'clock tomorrow?"

Rory nodded. "See you then."

"Night." He waved once before heading down the stairs. A minute later, he opened the curtain to the diner and spotted Luke wiping down the counter, all the lights off except for a small one next to the till. "Hey," he greeted his uncle.

"Hi. I didn't know…"

"Rory and I were watching a movie," he explained, suddenly feeling seventeen again and caught doing something he definitely shouldn't have been doing.

"Oh." Luke nodded, still looking at him, looking like he was struggling with what he wanted to say. "Last time, you said that's over, right?"

"Come on." Jess sighed in frustration.

"Jess."

"It's not over, because there's nothing to be over. Geez, it's been fifteen years." The hitch came back again, stronger than before and he ran a hand through his hair. "She needs as many people in her corner as she can get right now, that's it."

"You know? About the…?"

"The baby? Yeah." Jess nodded. "Are we done now?" He asked and Luke nodded.

"Just be careful, ok?"

"Ok, I'll have to rephrase. I'm done." He walked out of the diner, letting the door slam behind him.

* * *

The next morning.

" _Hey, it's me!_ " Lorelai called from the hallway, knocking on the door to the diner apartment. _"Rory!_ " another knock, before she finally heard shuffling inside. It took a moment before Rory opened the door, then walked right back to the bathroom, without waiting for Lorelai. She stopped and dropped her paper bag on the kitchen counter then followed Rory, sitting on the cold tiled floor next to her.

"Feeling better, I see," Lorelai smiled, smoothing her daughter's hair down.

"You're hilarious."

"I brought supplies."

"If you say ginger ale, I will kick you."

"Seriously?"

"Take that, pregnancy book. It also tastes vile coming back up." She tried to joke, but wound up grimacing instead.

"Aw, kid," Lorelai sighed. "It'll get better."

"Can't really get any worse. What did you bring?"

"Since you said the classics weren't working, I decided hangover food was worth a try."

"Tacos?"

"And Gatorade, staying hydrated is very important. What do you say?"

"I'll try a Gatorade."

"Good." Lorelai smiled, standing up. "What flavor? I have about 6 different ones."

"Whatever."

"Ok." She left the room and came back a minute later, stopping outside the door. "If I bring tacos in there…?"

"Maybe later." Rory grimaced again. She took the bottle her mother held out to her and took a small sip before resting against the bathroom wall again.

"So?" Lorelai asked her, sitting back on the floor again.

She shrugged in reply, taking another sip from the drink. "Wanna hear something funny?"

"Always."

"Liz thinks it's Jess' baby."

"Seriously?"

"Mhm." Rory nodded. "She asked him about yesterday, after the great fun time I had at Thanksgiving."

"And he's in jail right now?"

"No. But I might end up being if anyone in town suggests the same."

"Oh, don't worry, Babette saw you and Logan, so they're pretty fifty-fifty split between him and Jess."

"I thought I was hiding it better than that."

"You made me pull the car over so you could be sick yesterday."

"Well, at least I tried. Tell them it's not Jess', ok? If anyone brings it up to you? I really don't want this rumor to spread more than it has."

"Ok." Lorelai nodded. "So you saw him yesterday?"

"Hm?"

"Jess? You said this happened yesterday…?"

"Oh, right, yeah, we watched a movie. He's coming by again this evening."

"Nice of him."

"Mom." Rory groaned. "It's not like that."

"It could be like that."

"Yes, this baby, Jess and I, we're all going to live happily ever after." Something unexpected hitched in her throat and she stopped, trying to figure it out.

"It's fine, you know? To want a relationship? With Jess or with anyone else." She added the second part quickly, before Rory could argue again. "It wouldn't make you a bad mother."

"Why did you never date?"

"That's feels like a loaded question." She chuckled. "I did date, I just never happened to date anyone good enough to bring home to you. And I've got my own baggage when it comes to guys, you know that, so that didn't help matters. Plus, it's much harder to find a guy who'd want the whole kid package when you're still a teenager. There were a lot of things at play there, it wasn't like I decided it was going to be you and me, it just turned out that way." She squeezed Rory's arm gently. "I don't regret it for a second, but had I met Luke ten years earlier? I just… don't know."

"Can you get me a taco? I think I might be ok." She asked, more out of a desire to end the conversation before she could think too much about it, than anything else.

"Thought you'd never ask."

* * *

"This kid is definitely all Gilmore," Rory told Jess as he got to her apartment later that evening, holding a pizza box. "Tacos."

"Gonna need to buy a vowel here."

"I managed to eat tacos this morning."

"Good for you." He smirked, setting the box down on one of the boxes next to the TV.

"Did anyone stare at you funny today?"

"I took Doula to Hartford, Andrew's sucks for kids' books. Why?"

"Mom says the rumors are definitely there." She explained, opening the box and looking at the pizza. "Aw, you remembered the cheese."

"I assumed I'd lose a limb if I didn't."

"Maybe a foot, nothing too important. You need your hands to write. I've seen _Misery_ , I have some thoughts. I got you coffee." She pointed to a cup she'd set on another box. "It's from downstairs, but it's the thought, right? Plus, Luke makes the best coffee, so it wasn't like it was all proximity."

"Thanks." He took his coat off and sat down.

"Give me a minute, this is still brewing." She walked back to the coffee pot. "You can start looking for something to watch."

"But how are you going to nix everything from over there?"

"I told you, it's your pick. Particularly now that this thing is spreading around town, I need to atone."

"Am I on hook for child support here?"

"I have a trust fund, kid's not gonna starve." She shrugged, pouring herself a cup of coffee. "Do you want me to tell them?"

"Why?" Jess asked, watching her as she made her way back to the couch.

"I don't know, I just…"

"I don't care." He shook his head. "I cleared it up with Liz, Taylor's opinion isn't high on the list of things that matter."

"Ok. And I am sorry, for what it's worth."

"It's not my reputation you need to worry about if people are gossiping about us having slept together."

"I hadn't thought of it that way."

"Clearly, because if you'd known where babies come from, you wouldn't be here."

"Please, I'm that episode of _Friends_ with Ross yelling about how they should put it on the box." She picked up a slice of pizza. "What are we watching? And don't say _Friends_."

" _Jaws 2_?"

"Perfect, it'll go with my murderous mood. This place, sometimes…" she mumbled, waiting for the movie to start.

* * *

Rory walked into the diner the next day, seeing Jess at the counter, a cup of coffee and lunch in front of him. "Hi! Wait!" she remembered, then started dashing back up the stairs, only to stop when he spoke.

"Is this going to be like last time?"

"I promise I know where it is!" She called back, rushing up the stairs, coming back a minute later with a book in her hand. "I'm returning your hostage."

"Not even missing an ear or anything. Or the book equivalent of one, at least."

"You weren't going to pay ransom anyway." She grimaced, looking at the door. "I'm going to…" She told him before she rushed outside, biting on her index finger to try and settle her stomach. She started walking down the street when she heard steps behind her and Jess caught up, trying to zip his coat up.

"Tacos not a miracle cure today?"

"It would appear not. The Gatorade is sticking, so at least there's that." She sighed. "Weren't you eating?"

"I'm ok."

"Starving yourself to death out of sympathy?"

"Nah, it's mostly self-preservation, Luke must have thought I was Lorelai or something, with all the food he made. I was half way through it and still couldn't see the plate."

"You're lying."

"You don't have a hairband, you might need someone to hold your hair."

"Let's hope it won't come to that."

"If it does, try to miss my shoes, ok?"

"I'll do my best." She smiled, wrapping her arms around herself as they started walking towards the town square. "I'm going to get you a really nice Christmas present for all of this."

"I'm partial to books."

"Hope you've got shelf space."

"You don't have to…"

"I can't hear you, I'm deafened by gratitude." She chuckled, sitting down in the gazebo.

"Your mom's heading this way." He pointed out Lorelai, walking down the sidewalk.

"I was meeting her for lunch and my one cup of coffee a day. Before the fun and games began."

"Ok."

"You gonna bail now?" Rory asked when Lorelai spotted them and waved as she changed course towards the gazebo.

"Yeah. But not because of her."

"Right."

"Hey, I got over that. We're nearly … friendish?" He shrugged. "Don't tell her I said that."

"My lips are sealed."

"I should head back to Philly though, I have stuff to do when I get back."

"Stuff?" She asked, then shook her head. "Sorry, that's personal, you don't have to tell me."

"Buy some food, do laundry. Really exciting."

"You got boring, not even drinking? At least I've got an excuse."

"Got work tomorrow." He smirked, watching Lorelai get stopped at the bottom of the steps by Kirk. "It's been fun."

"You want to watch _Jaws 3_ tonight?"

"I'll text you when I'm home," Jess said, nodding and then stood up. "Good luck with this place."

"Thanks."

"Take care."

"You too, Jess. And…"

"You thank me one more time, I'll block your number." He smirked, waving as he made his way back to the diner for his stuff. She watched him walk away, the hitch back again, as unexpected as the day before.


	7. Call

**A/N: Hey, guys, just a heads up that I'm gearing up for really major exams so updates are going to be either even slower or non-existent until mid-June. Thank you for your patience and for the lovely reviews.**

* * *

 **Call**

"You look nice," Lorelai looked at her daughter as she walked into the living room and collapsed on the couch.

"I'm so tired." Rory grumbled in reply, pinching the bridge of her nose between thumb and index fingers. "And thank you." She smoothed down her blue shift dress, trying to get rid of one of the creases.

"You know we don't have a dress code here, right?"

"Job interview," Rory shrugged, still working on the fold. "I was going to go to the diner and have a nap, but I need to find some more clothes because everything I have over there is too loose."

"You know you're supposed to be getting fat while pregnant, right?"

"And maybe if I could keep food down for more than ten minutes, that might happen." She practically snapped, then rubbed her eyes. "Sorry, I'm tired."

"It's ok." Lorelai said with a smile, rubbing Rory's arm. "Anything I can do?"

"Help me find the trash bag the rest of my winter clothes are in. I drew something on it."

"Any more detail than that?"

"It wasn't very good?"

"How about I help you move all the bags over?"

"I see, trying to get me out of the house already."

"You are out of the house." Lorelai pointed out. "You just lack priorities and moved your books before your clothes."

"No, that's exactly where my priorities should be. I have nowhere to unpack." She sighed, looking towards the corridor towards her old room. "Do you mind if I borrow the wardrobe?"

"You want to borrow furniture?"

"It's only until I can buy one, but I just got the couch and I'm trying to be responsible here."

"Trust fund that dry?"

"No. But college is going to be very expensive in eighteen years."

"You don't think between grandma, your dad and …" Lorelai stopped, suddenly feeling weird.

"Mom, you can say Logan's name. He's still this kid's dad, he's just not in its life."

"And we're…"

"We're ok with this. We're zen." Rory shrugged, chewing on her lip. "We're working on zen anyway. Just as we're working on one day teaching this kid what financial responsibility it."

"Ok, but it's not even born, can we not teach it after and get you some furniture that's not a billion years old?"

"No."

"You're stubborn." Lorelai argued.

"I'm… trying my best." She let out a sigh, picking at her skirt again. "Can I borrow the wardrobe?"

"I'll ask Luke to move it tonight. But if he decides to build you one, please remember he's a grown man and I can't take him in a fight."

"Noted."

"You never told me what the interview was for."

"I don't know if it was an interview, as much as an informal chat with Principal Merton."

"Who? Did Charleston croak or something?"

"Mom!"

"What, he's old!" Lorelai tried to defend herself. "Who's this guy?"

"Stars Hollow High's principal? You met him a hundred times."

"…nope." She pretended to think about it.

"Well you met him."

"If you say so."

"He was principal when I went to Stars Hollow High."

"Does anyone in this town ever change jobs?"

"Other than Kirk?" Rory shook her head, smiling.

"So how did your not-interview go?"

"I'm starting next week. One of the science teachers wants to cut back on her hours, so I'm going to work with her and figure it out."

"Science?"

"It's the only thing they had going, and it's not like I can be picky. I'm just looking for experience, I'm lucky he'll even take me without any teaching qualifications."

"You have your dance card full, kid, with this and the Masters and the book…"

"I'm juggling it." She told her mother.

"And if any of the balls start falling…"

"I will let you know and you can swoop in and lasso it back in place, or whatever superheroes do."

"Good." Lorelai leaned over and put her arms over Rory's shoulders. "I am so proud of you. You're freaking amazing."

"I'm not." She stood up, forcing her mother to her feet too by pulling her hand. "Come on, bags."

"Oh, no, you carry nothing."

"I thought that was Luke's thing!" Rory argued, realizing its futility as she saw Lorelai's face.

"That's my grandkid you're growing there! I'll pop the bags in the car and drive you over."

"Actually, do you mind if I walk? I need to stop by Doose's and get some cereal."

"Is Luke not feeding you?"

"Luke is great, you both are. My stomach however…"

"Gotcha. I will meet you at the diner."

* * *

"Hey, Taylor," Rory greeted the man, starting to unload her basket on the conveyor belt. "Freezing outside."

"Hm." The man sneered, taking one of the cereal boxes and scanning it.

"Ok." She mumbled, setting the now empty basket down on top of the others.

"I hope you're going to have a better attitude with your students."

"Excuse me?" Rory's eyebrows shot up.

"I don't know why I expected anything else, especially considering..."

"Considering what, Taylor?"

"Well…" he stopped scanning her groceries and waved his hands, trying to get his point across. Rory's eyebrows stayed up, waiting. "Your predicament." He finally added, lowering his voice.

"My what?"

"You know very well what I mean."

"Oh, but wouldn't I like to hear you say it." She shot back, wrapping her arms around herself. "What _is_ my predicament?"

"There are rumors, young lady."

"Rumors?" She needled him again, patience worn so thin it was nearly gone.

"Are you really going to make me say it?"

"Yes."

"Fine. Do you really think you should be teaching young minds when you're having a child out of wedlock?" He lowered his voice even more, the last few words so quiet that she could barely hear them.

"Funny, I didn't know I'd woken up in the 50s. Pretty sure mom doesn't drive a DeLorean, so was it like in that Stephen King book where there's some steps in the back of a diner? 'Cause I've been spending a lot of time in one lately, it sounds plausible."

"I just don't think…"

"And I don't think you get a say." She interrupted him. "Despite what seems to be your highly held belief here, you're not king of this town and you don't get to micromanage every single decision made. And if you do anything to make me lose this job, I will hold you personally responsible and sue you, the school, the school board and anyone else I can think of, do you hear me?" She waited for a second while the man watched her, mildly stunned. "Taylor!"

"You used to be such a nice girl."

"I don't have all day." She told him, shoving her cereal box towards him. "And for the record…" Rory spun on her heels, facing the crowd gathered on the near shelves, trying to listen in. "Yes, it's true. Happy now?"

"Sugar…" Babette took a small step forward, her voice sounding somewhere near an apology.

"I don't want to hear it. Oh, and it's not Jess', so if you could all drop that, it'd be super." She snapped, turning back to face Taylor. "How much do I owe you?"

* * *

"You yelled at Taylor?" Lorelai asked, watching Luke carry Rory's bags up the stairs of the diner, coffee cup in front of her.

"How did that get here before I did?" Rory sat at the counter next to her mother, setting her groceries down in front of her.

"In this town?"

"Right." She sighed, grabbing Lorelai's cup and taking a small sip of coffee. "I'm so mad."

"Yeah, I got that."

"And Jess? They had to drag him into it? Did it ever occur to anyone in this place that he's got family here and what they might think about it?" She raised her voice purposely, looking over her shoulder at Miss Patty and Babette. "Days like this, I miss New York."

"Aw, but you've got me here."

"The one good thing."

"Rory…"

"I'll get over it. I'm just grumpy and tired." She forced a smile.

"And it's got…" Lorelai started, wanting to ask how much of it was to do with Jess' absence, but stopped herself.

"Mom?"

"I forgot. Old age." Lorelai chuckled. "What do you want to do this evening?"

"Sleep."

"That sounds like a plan." She reached over, wrapping her arm around her daughter's shoulders. "The gossip will die down, ok? You want me to talk to them?"

"Uh… can you make sure there's not going to be a town meeting on my _predicament_?" She rolled her eyes again.

"Yes."

"Thank you. I'm gonna…" Rory tilted her head towards the curtain.

"Call if you get bored, ok?"

"I will." She hugged her mother, then grabbed her bag and went upstairs to her apartment.

* * *

" _Your honor is defended."_ Rory texted Jess about an hour later, giving up on her attempt at sleeping.

" _Was there jousting involved?"_

" _Just a screaming match."_

" _I'm intrigued."_

She pressed the call button, and second guessed it as soon as it started ringing, because she felt somehow like she was intruding too much into his life.

" _That long a story, huh?"_ She could hear the smirk and it made her smile, mind more at ease than it had been a moment before.

"That complicated to explain via text."

" _I'm waiting with bated breath."_

"So I'm in Doose's…" she launched into the story, standing up from bed and pacing around the room. "There you go." She picked up one of the cereal boxes and took it with her to the couch.

" _Do you think I can get a copy of the security footage or something?"_

"Pretty sure Taylor is destroying it as we speak."

" _How do you feel about it being out?"_

"It was going to happen eventually. I'm not going to Beyoncé this thing, I just wanted a couple more weeks before I had to tell people."

" _What is Stars Hollow's version of the VMAs?"_

"Definitely the Firelight Festival." She opened the box, sniffing at the cereal before setting it down again. "What are you up to?"

" _Making dinner."_

"Don't you need your phone for that?"

" _I'm doing it the old fashioned way, you may have heard of it, you chop things, fry them up?"_

"…you can cook?"

" _Such amazement in her voice."_ Another practically audible smirk.

"Hey, it just sounds like something that should have come up before."

" _Truncheon wasn't always as wildly successful as it is right now, it was cook or eat Ramen, and there's only so much Ramen."_

"I think this is the sort of thing I'm going to need to see to believe."

" _Subtle angling for dinner invites work better when you're not a few hundred miles away."_

"It wasn't that subtle, and it's more setting about the groundwork for badgering you until you make me dinner next time you're in town. I did yell at people for you, remember."

" _I can be persuaded."_

"You know that's as good as a blood oath when it comes to Gilmores and food." Rory laughed, picking up the cereal box again. "So what are you making? I'd like to know while I sit here condemned to eat nothing but dry cereal and the occasional Triscuit."

" _It's gotten worse?"_

"Oh, yeah, now it's pretty much non-stop nausea. It's such fun. Good fun. Such fun."

" _You have better taste than to quote anything off the worst Guns 'n Roses album."_

"It was Dead Boys inspired, thank you very much. And while we're on it, _Chinese Democracy_ was way worse."

" _Never listened to it."_

"Life's too short, don't do it."

" _Wasn't planning to. And pasta, by the way."_

"Any good?"

" _It's kept me alive so far."_

"High standards you've got there."

" _I'm expecting someone to come award me a Michelin star any minute now."_

"Maybe even two." She smiled. "I'll let you go before any blood actually gets shed."

" _You're late worrying about that one, I'm nearly done."_

"Oh. Bloodshed-less?"

" _As far as I can tell. Give me ten minutes to eat and then we can watch a movie if you've got nothing better on."_

"I am literally staring at a box of cereal."

" _Can I really compete?"_

"It is _Lucky Charms_ , so I'd say it's pretty close race, but you can clinch it if you don't choose the last _Jaws_."

" _You pick. I'll call you back after I'm done."_

"Enjoy." She set the phone down, starting to go through Netflix to find something to watch.


	8. Better

**A/N: And I'm back. Sorry about the wait. Thank you for your patience and all the lovely reviews.**

* * *

 **Better**

"I'm not here."

"Your hologram's pretty good," Jess looked up from the coffee pot he had been waiting for to see one of the guys he worked with walk into their small office kitchen.

"You're hilarious." The other man stepped inside the room, moving from one foot to the other to soothe the baby he was holding in a carrier next to his chest. "Ruth's sick, Livie's at work today and I need a cup of coffee like you wouldn't believe."

"They sell them in shops too." Jess took the nearly full pot out and filled the cup his friend was holding out towards him.

"I have stuff to pick up. And I had to be out of the house for a minute. With adults. Who enjoy something other than my rendition of Dolly Parton songs."

"No one enjoys your singing."

"Hey, I'll have you know she's not cried in like an hour, so eat your heart out, Christgau," Matthew ran his hand over the baby's head, watching her carefully for a moment to see if she was about to cry again. "Ok, we're off. Call if you need me."

"Hey," Jess paused, slotting the pot back in place to wait for it to refill "what did Livie do for morning sickness?"

"You mean other than puke and curse me for getting her pregnant?"

"Yeah."

"Cold peppermint tea and one of those motion sickness bracelets seemed to do something, but I'm pretty sure it was like 90% placebo. Why, you get a girl in trouble?"

"Just a friend, man. It's not my trouble." He waited for a moment to see if the thing he had decided had definitely been a heart attack and nothing more, because anything else was too dangerous when it came to her, returned. It didn't, and he thanked whatever it was that was in charge.

"Aw, dammit, you should definitely have a kid. Ruth needs friends."

"Yeah, try selling me on it when you're not covered in vomit."

"Ah, sh… sugar," he corrected himself at the last moment.

"You said dammit earlier."

"I'm trying," the man argued back. "I'll just blame you or Chris." The baby started fussing again and she sighed. "I'll be in tomorrow. Or Thursday. I don't know, there's no end in sight."

"Hope Ruth's better soon."

"Thanks." Matthew walked out of the room, bouncing again to keep the baby settled.

Jess filled up his cup, taking his hand out of his pocket and sending _"Cold peppermint tea and a motion sickness bracelet might help with the puking."_ Ignoring, again, the fact that texting her had somehow become a constant in his routine.

" _Is that your Snapple fact?"_

" _Something a friend suggested."_

" _Did they read it on the internet or do you have friends with kids?"_

" _I have friends with kids."_

" _That makes you sound so grown up. Do you babysit? Come on, feed the visual."_

Jess smirked, making his way back to his desk. _"No on the babysitting, but I've been debating a mortgage for a while, so doing pretty well on this grown up thing."_

" _Color me impressed."_

" _What are you up to?"_

" _Curled up in bed, regretting all the times I took being able to stand for granted. I'll see if I can crawl to the drugstore and try the bracelet thing."_

" _Hope it helps."_

" _Me too. Thanks for the suggestion. You need to get to work?"_

" _Coffee break."_

" _Then please explain to me what the hell you were thinking with this book you left me to read."_

* * *

"Oh, God!" Lorelai practically jumped, clutching her chest as she walked into her kitchen, only to find Rory sitting at the kitchen table.

"Hey," she greeted, pushing her headphones down. "Sorry."

"Look, giving me a heart attack is pretty useless, I haven't checked, but I think Luke gets all my stuff if I die now." She rambled, going to the coffee machine and getting started on making a fresh pot. "Not that it's not nice to have you around, but what are you doing here?"

"Studying." Rory pointed to the books in front of her. "I need to take a test for this teaching gig and this place has served me well when it comes to studying. It's got good vibes. And it doesn't smell like food, which is a pretty big bonus."

"This seems like a lot of work for a job you're only going to be doing for a few months."

"It'll be good to get the experience."

"Rory…"

"Mom, I'm doing this."

"Ok." Lorelai nodded, sitting across from her as the coffee machine worked in the background. "Have you eaten anything?"

"I had cereal."

"Is that it?"

"Are we counting Gatorade?"

"No."

"Then yes. It's ok, it's got vitamins, says so right on the box." Rory lifted the box to show her mother.

"And there's nothing you can think you might want to eat? Between Sookie and Luke, I'm pretty sure we've got you covered."

"I'm ok."

"Rory…" she sighed, worry seeping into her voice again.

"Tell you what, we can do pizza tonight. If you can stay awake until midnight, that is."

"It's a date. You going to be here a while?"

"You mind? I really want to do well on this."

Lorelai shook her head, filling her coffee cup up. "I'll go watch a movie, come find me if your brain gets too tired."

* * *

Later that night, Luke rolled over in bed, opening his eyes to look at his wife, who'd been flipping through every channel on the tv constantly since he'd first started trying to sleep. "Not tired?"

"Rory and I have a date." She smiled, stopping the remote fiddling. "Was this too loud?"

"No." Still half asleep. "Everything ok?"

"You ever lose a shirt you really like?"

"Hm?" Luke gave up on sleep, pulling himself up on the bed.

"You do laundry and then it gets stuck behind a bunch of others, or it's winter and it's too cold, or the bra that goes with it betrays you and dies an underwire related death and you never get around to…"

"Lorelai?" He interrupted her rambling.

"Point is, you ever lose something you like and then you find it next summer or whatever, at the back of the closet, and it never even entered your mind that it was missing, because you've got another shirt, you know, but then you find it and it's amazing and great and everything else was just so… missing something, I think, in comparison?"

"We're not really talking about a shirt here."

"No." She smiled, running a hand through his hair. "Rory's… she's working so hard at this teaching job and at pulling herself together and I don't think I knew how much I missed her until now. She's been here, but this is… this is Rory, the good kid. She's back. She's not Rory who's running around. With Logan." She practically sneered at his name. "Doesn't matter. Go back to sleep."

"Lo…"

She moved over and kissed him. "You have to wake up early."

"Ok." Luke nodded, rolling back after another goodnight kiss, wrapping himself up in the blanket. "You're right."

"Hm?" Lorelai looked up from the tv.

"About Rory."

She just smiled, letting her hand come to rest in his hair again.

* * *

The next evening, Rory picked up the phone, dialing Jess' number.

" _Hey,"_ he answered after a couple of rings.

"I need to know what sort of form your friend takes his gratitude in."

" _Beer, most of the time. I take it worked?"_

"I'm not a hundred percent or anything, but I'm feeling better." She replied with a smile. "I ate before midnight today."

" _Tacos?"_

"Of course. Them, pizza and cereal are my only food groups right now."

" _And Luke's not lecturing you about the terrible damage you're inflicting on your kid?"_

"It's apparently doomed to be born with multiple heads."

" _Think of all the money you'll make when you sell it to the circus."_

"I'm pretty sure they outlawed that."

" _We'll find a workaround."_

"I'll wait for your initial suggestions, we can work up from there." She settled into the couch. "How's your day been?"

" _Same drudgery. It's manuscript Wednesday, so it's not the worst, but it wasn't fun either."_

"Manuscript Wednesday?"

" _We save all the queries we get for one day. Something to look forward to."_

"Anything good?"

" _Oh, yeah, we'll set the literary world on fire."_

"I can't wait, it's been pretty slim pickings this year. I'm waiting for the Times' ten best books list to see what I've missed."

" _Let me know."_

"Definitely." She glanced over at the latest edition of the Gazette that she'd told herself she was going to get an early start on, but the thought of hanging up wasn't particularly appealing to her. "What are you up to tonight?"

" _Going out."_ There was a hint of something she couldn't quite read in his voice.

"You should have said, my ramblings aren't really worth making you late."

" _I'm not late."_

"Can I ask where you're going? Make it sound fun, the Secret Bar is closed for winter, not that the not drinking was making it that much fun anyway."

" _Random place, not a clue. Haven't been there before."_

"Is she pretty?" Rory tried to make it sound as lighthearted as possible, to keep the gnawing deep in the pit of her stomach from crawling into her voice.

" _I make it a habit of only dating women I find really unattractive. Makes the break ups easier."_

"That's a clever plan. I'll let you go get ready. How long does applying product to your hair take these days?"

" _I've been working on it since I got back from work, actually."_

"So just a couple of hours to go."

" _Three at most."_

"Send my gratitude to your friend, in beer form if possible. I'll repay you when I get a chance."

" _Will do."_

"Have fun."

" _Thanks."_

She hung up the phone, picking up the mockup of the paper, and starting to look it over, red pen in her other hand. Gnawing still there, and she quickly told herself it was her diet of tacos and nothing more.

* * *

"That was a waste." Jess said as she picked up the phone a couple of hours later. He hadn't even thought about calling her, yet found himself waiting for the phone to ring while he dug out some questionably old leftover pizza from the fridge.

" _I'll say, you're home before ten."_

"I'll take all your mockery now."

" _Hey, I was rooting for you to have fun. What was so bad?"_

"All of it." He shook his head, sitting on his couch with the pizza. Not that he'd wanted to go in the first place, but Matthew had hounded him into asking the nice girl out and he'd agreed and then he'd spent a very awkward hour trying to force conversation and then trying not too think too much about how he didn't have to with Rory. Maybe it had been a lot less her, a lot more him in the end. "Want to watch something?"

" _I'm giving House of Cards a go, I'm five minutes into the first episode. I'll wait for you to catch up. Unless you've seen it, I have a lot of tv queued up, but this is one I'm not watching with mom because she goes off into all of her Kevin Spacey impressions, and if you think her Brody is bad, you should hear her Se7en speech. Which then devolves into her shouting '_ What's in the booooox? _' and a whole lot of Brad Pitt."_

"Have you considered having her checked out?"

" _Regularly. So?"_

"Tell me when to stop."

" _Five minutes, twenty three seconds,"_ she replied.

"Cool. I'll let you know when I'm there."

" _You can fill me in on this date in the meantime."_

"No chance." He smirked, starting the first episode.


	9. Change

**A/N: Sorry about the delay, I had to resit my exams so that had to take precedence over writing. I should, barring disaster, be back on a more regular updating schedule now.**

 **Thank you for reading and the reviews, I appreciate them all and your patience.**

* * *

 **Change**

A month later.

"Hey," Rory answered her phone. "Just ordered pizza," she told Jess, curling up on the couch with a cup of coffee.

" _Me too."_

"We can start the show when it gets here, Luke's going to kill me if he has to bring up my pizza again. Or at least lecture me. I mean I even got peppers on it, that's got me up to four vegetables now, I don't know why he keeps complaining!"

" _You gonna pick them off again?"_

"Vegetable essence is close enough to count."

" _Says the science teacher."_

"Good thing this question wasn't on my test or I would have never passed," she replied, laughing. "How was work?"

" _Back braking."_

"So you did nothing?"

" _Spent an hour listening to Matthew rant about how long the line for pictures with Santa was, it was a lot tougher than work."_

"Sure." Her tone was mocking. "You know what I discovered today?"

" _Clearly wasn't that there's no such thing as vegetable essence."_

"Totally is," she argued. "No, I got my daily _'hey, your kid's grown some more vitally important thing'_ email today and I'm apparently officially starting the second trimester tomorrow. Thought I'd tell someone, because the email was going on and on about how I can now start telling people, but I guess they didn't consider having yelled it in a supermarket as an option, so I'm really out of people to tell. I mean, I texted mom, but she gets the emails too, so that wasn't really news."

" _Your grandmother?"_

"She's coming over for Christmas, I'm going to do it in person. Dad too, we're having lunch next week so that's going to be me officially done."

" _I didn't miss you burying the fact that your grandmother and I are gonna be in town at the same time."_

"Please, she's not going to remember you. And mom and I checked schedules and I think you're only going to be in the same room for the Dragonfly lunch, that's not that long. We've put you two literally at opposite ends of the table, you just have to avoid her during drinks." Rory paused for a moment. "Too late for plastic surgery, right?"

" _My guy's out of town."_

"Shame. It's ok, I'm going to tell her before lunch so no one else spills the beans, so she'll be directing all her hatred at me anyway."

" _You still think she's going to be mad?"_

"I don't know. Mom's trying to convince me otherwise but…" she sighed. "I want to be prepared. Just in case. Ok, change of subject. Mom wanted me to check again if you're sure you don't want anything for Christmas. We're going shopping tomorrow because she's complained she doesn't see me enough since I started work, like it's my fault she has to work late tonight and skip out on our Friday night dinner."

" _She's never gotten me anything before, what sparked all of this checking?"_

"Maybe you've finally grown on her enough. So?"

" _Sure."_

"I will tell her, and then I will try to direct her towards something you won't hate too much when she doesn't listen to me."

" _Can't you wave something shiny instead?"_

"Maybe some shoes, that might work." Rory smiled. "I cannot believe I actually agreed to go to a mall the week before Christmas."

" _I should've recorded Matthew's rant, it would have been a nice preview."_

"I really hope you're this compassionate when I complain about it next year."

" _I refrained for openly mocking him for at least the first twenty minutes."_

"We'll get you a sainthood."

* * *

"This is going so great," Lorelai gushed the next morning as she added another bag to the three she was already holding.

"Yes, your wardrobe is all set."

"I got Sookie a scarf, I don't know what you're talking about," she protested. "How are you doing? You want to take a break, have some coffee?"

"Actually…" Rory chewed on her lip, looking at the store her eyes had been drawn to every time they'd walked past.

Lorelai turned around and followed her gaze.

"I don't want to buy anything. Just have a look," Rory added quickly.

"Can I buy things?" Lorelai looped her arm around her daughter's and started guiding her towards the door to the baby store. "Because I've been waiting very, very impatiently for this day."

"This is going to be a big mistake, isn't it?"

"Just a couple of things, I promise."

"Oh, God…" Rory mumbled under her breath. They stopped a few steps inside the store, her eyes scanning all the shelves. "This is a lot of stuff."

"Where do you want to start?"

"I don't know."

"Have you made a list?"

"I haven't even fully accepted pregnancy leads to babies yet, I have not made a list."

"Man, you're in for a surprise in six months' time. How about clothes? Clothes don't really require a list and they're small and cute and not threatening." Lorelai suggested.

"Clothes do sound innocuous enough." She agreed, taking a few steps towards one of the shelves, Lorelai following quickly behind her.

"This is cute," she pulled out a dress from the shelf, holding up for Rory to see.

"And if it's a boy?"

"It's not like he'd care all that much, you can dress him in all the cute clothes! It would totally work for a good couple of years."

"I'm going to ignore you now."

"Ok, ok, don't. Have you at least thought about that?"

"Dressing my potential son in the world's floofiest pink dress?"

"No, about the boy or girl thing." Lorelai prodded, pushing the dress back.

"Girl," she answered, losing the hesitancy that hadn't left her voice since she'd suggested the store.

"It's the dresses, right?"

"I just…" Rory let out a loud breath, picking up a onesie mindlessly and looking at it. "I'm scared I'd see nothing but _him_ in a boy."

"Hon…"

"I'm not fooling myself," she added quickly. "I know this kid's going to look like him, but it feels like I could deal with a girl easier. Like it just…"

"Yeah." Lorelai rubbed her arm gently. "I know."

"When I was little, with dad…?"

"It was a long time ago, Rory, I…"

"Mom," she stopped her before she could make excuses.

"I still see bits of him in you. But it's not bad." She shook her head, trying to reassure Rory. "I see the good bits, all the things I used to love about him."

"You lying?"

"No."

"I talked to him." Rory admitted, still running her thumb over the onesie. "Dad, I mean. _Him_ I haven't since..."

"I thought you were seeing him this week."

"Not about this. He still doesn't know. But I was in Hartford a while ago and I went to see him. I was just going to talk to him about the book but then… it was that morning, when I realized this might be happening, and I asked him about you and me and how it felt for him, being on the outside."

"What did he say?"

"That he loves us and that everything that happened was exactly what was supposed to happen."

"Sounds like your dad." It was Lorelai's turn to sound a little bitter. "How do you feel about it?"

"I can't change what happened, and I can't change what's happening now, so..." she shrugged.

"Do you know when he's getting married?"

"Spring sometime, not sure. We never talked about it." Rory shook her head. "What do you think?" She held up the onesie for Lorelai to see.

"You want stuff that closes at the shoulders, that way you can slide it down when there's a diaper explosion and not get poop all over the kid's head."

"This knowledge isn't from personal experience, right?"

"Uhm… of course not, honey." She joked, picking up another onesie from the shelf.

* * *

"I'm screwed," Rory told Jess as she called him later that day.

" _What happened?"_

"I went to a baby store today."

" _You're already having a baby, buying one now seems like a waste."_

"Thought I'd practice for a while, return it right on the last day. Make sure I'm not gonna drop mine on its head or something."

" _Smart. So, baby store?"_ He steered her back.

"I know nothing about babies!" Rory complained, opening the fridge and picking up a slice of cold pizza. "I have no idea what I need, what I don't need, or what half the things in that store are for! Like a Diaper Genie, what's the point of it? Don't you throw them out? What's the reason for having a different trash can that's specifically for diapers?"

" _No idea."_

"And I have no one to ask! I tried asking Lane, but she says she's can't remember anything from the baby years and I don't blame her, 'cause all that screaming? And Paris? Her kids wear nothing unless it's handmade by nuns or something! I have no one sane I can ask for advice and the internet is full of terrible stories of babies that won't stop screaming and what if that happens to me, Jess? I can't deal with that!"

" _Rory…"_

"Not done. And it's not the end of the world and Lane and I are going to go have a look in a few more weeks, see if that helps and I've got time but…"

" _You wanted to rant?"_

"Thank you." She bit her lip, hoping she hadn't made him uncomfortable.

" _It's entertaining."_

"I know you have a tv and a lot of books, I bet you could find something more entertaining than me."

" _Slow night."_

"Anyway, I didn't just call to rant."

" _Let me guess, Lorelai beckons?"_

"She wants to have Chinese and watch a movie. I'm thinking _Raising Arizona_ or similar, because I'm pretty sure I can't screw up as much as they did in that movie."

" _You're not starting with child abduction, you're a step ahead."_

"Well, at least I've got that going," Rory replied. "What are you going to do with your free evening?"

" _I've been working on the piece of crap today, may as well keep it going."_

"Any time frame yet?"

" _Nope."_

"Tease," she laughed. "Ok, I've got to go, mom's waiting downstairs, I was just here for pizza and to let you know I wasn't going to be around."

" _You could have texted."_

"And spared you the rant? Thought you were bored." And because she had wanted to talk to him, but she let the thought fleet away as soon as it had popped into her head. "Tomorrow night?"

" _Call whenever."_

"Ok. Talk to you tomorrow."


	10. Hide

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews.**

* * *

 **Hide**

"Dinner smells nice," Rory remarked, walking into the Gilmore house on Friday night. "I'm starving," she added, sitting on the couch next to Lorelai. "My stupid stomach decided pizza was unbearable today so I've had some toast and a whole lot of anger at this betrayal. Really, pizza? I'm pretty sure I will actually die if pizza goes off the table."

"Don't know why you think dinner's going to work, you should see how many vegetables Luke got," Lorelai answered.

"If I can hate pizza, maybe some actual miracle will have happened and I won't hate vegetables." She watched Lorelai's eyebrows go up in disbelief. "What, it could happen!" she tried to argue back. "You ate apples."

"Yeah, but apples are sweet, so they're a bit like candy. Terrible, terrible candy that no one wants to eat, like those strawberry things old people always have, but still acceptable, whereas vegetables have absolutely no redeeming features."

"They'll make you live longer."

"Yeah, in misery at having to eat them."

"They also get Luke off my back," Rory pointed out. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she took it out, checking the text message.

"What's up?"

"Jess got to town," she answered, typing a reply at the same time.

"And first thing he did is text you?"

"I'm not sure it's exactly the first thing he did," she rolled her eyes. "Just complaining about traffic."

"Right."

"Mom."

"I said 'right', that's it."

"The way you said it…"

"There was no way."

"Fine," Rory gave up.

"You hanging out with him tonight?"

"I'm hanging out with you tonight, it's Friday night."

"If you wanted to…"

"I'm going to go see how long until dinner, I wasn't joking about the near starvation." Rory announced, standing up. "And yes, I am doing it to get away from you."

"I said nothing!" Lorelai protested again.

* * *

"Out for a walk, hm?" Rory laughed, cocking her eyebrows as she opened the door to her apartment for Jess later that night.

"You can't offer sanctuary and then mock when I take it."

"Have you been around a Gilmore before?" She stood out of the way to let him in. "Decaf?"

"Yeah." Jess nodded, taking his coat off. "Is that sofa still in your mother's garage?"

"No. And you'd die of exposure." She waved him towards the couch, waiting for the coffee to brew. "So, TJ?"

"Have you ever seen a grown man whine about having to wait an extra day for presents?"

"And again I ask, have you been around a Gilmore before? Mom spent all dinner trying to convince Luke to let her open one present."

"You know, I bet we could still get a flight somewhere warm and with booze."

"I can't drink."

"I'll take one for the team."

"Have some coffee. For the team." She set two cups down on the table, sitting down next to him. "You always have sanctuary here. And there's some beer in the fridge from when mom and Luke painted the place, if you're desperate."

"I'll save it, TJ's bound to manage to really piss me off."

"Any time." She picked up her cup, curling her legs under her.

"Appreciate it," Jess took the other cup. "You look better than last time I saw you."

"It's amazing what not puking every five minutes will do for one's complexion."

"So that's the secret."

"I'm looking into trademarking it, help pay for college. Or a swimming pool if the kid's dumb."

"I like the vote of confidence," Jess smirked. "You don't have TJ, why are you awake this late?"

"You read so much in my having conked out by ten thirty every night these past few weeks."

"Yeah, it was a big leap there."

"Maybe I just knew you'd be in need of rescuing."

Jess cocked an eyebrow, waiting.

"Fine, I'm…" she took a sip of coffee, looking away from him. "I can't sleep."

"Your grandma?"

"Dad too." Rory nodded. "Getting it all out in one day because I've waited far too long and it's going to be obvious soon and that would be such an added layer of fun to the conversation. And I don't know… I… I'm worried and panicked and I don't want to get into a fight or make things awkward and all that plus… I feel so guilty too."

"About?"

"The way I'm telling them. I wanted to do it in person, you know, 'cause if felt weird doing it over the phone, but I told Logan in an email and I've been feeling like a jerk about the whole thing. And I know…" she preempted his strike "…I need to give myself a break before I go crazy, yes, I remember."

"Think about it tomorrow, Scarlett."

"Tomorrow will be too late."

"And this is going so great?"

"I'd stop if I could. But since I'm not sure where Tara is…" she shrugged. "Am I a terrible person?"

"No." Jess answered.

"But…"

"You can't ask for my opinion and then ignore me."

"Once more on that Gilmore thing." Rory smiled. "I feel bad about it, and if the price I have to pay is one sleepless night, then I'll take it. Plus now I have company, so it's not like I'm going to be sitting here sulking by myself."

"Have you heard from him at all?"

"No. I don't expect to, either," she answered with a small shake of the head. "I sort of wish I would, because we didn't figure anything out, so I'm stuck here and I don't know if I should email him with updates or if he'd rather not know anything at all or…" another shake followed by a sigh. "I'm going with nothing. He knows where to find me if he wants to know, right?"

"You gonna feel bad about this one?"

"I heard it comes with motherhood, the double guessing of every decision. Didn't expect it to start this early."

"Before I forget…" Jess set his cup down and dug through his pocket, pulling out a neatly folded piece of paper and handing it to her.

"You're Nicholas Cage and want me to hold on to the Declaration of Independence for you while the heat dies down? I've got to say, I was expecting it to look older."

"Nah. Though good to know you'd stash stolen goods." He watched her unfold it carefully, then scan it. "I asked Matt if he had a list with stuff for the baby he really liked. It's not definitive or anything, but it's somewhere to start. It's got his reasoning for stuff there too."

"Jess, this is…"

"Look, he jumped at the chance to talk about the kid, so don't go thinking it's some great sacrifice. It was that or work, and we'll do anything to avoid that one."

"How is Truncheon still going?"

"Divine intervention."

"Well thank the gods then. And thank you for the list. And Matt."

"He says let him know if you need anything else."

"Thank you. To both of you." She took a sip of coffee, then put the empty cup on the table. "So, what books did you bring with you?"

* * *

"Hey," Rory greeted Jess the next day, sitting at the diner counter. "Is mom here yet?"

"Not seen her. Coffee?"

"Yeah. Regular, please, I get one cup a day and I need it after last night."

"How'd it go with your dad?"

"Oh, you know. He's taking out a full page announcement in the paper." Rory bit her lip, watching him pour her coffee. "It wasn't that bad. Just… awkward. It'll get better once he's had some time to process and come to terms with this whole thing, because it's out of the blue."

"You know, I can kick his ass too if you want."

"You're like a knight in shining leather." She smiled. "He's fine, Jess. It's dad, my expectations of him aren't very high."

"I know that one."

"You and Jimmy, do you talk?"

"Every few weeks."

"Oh, wow."

"It's mostly about music, we're not having heart to heart talks or nothing. So, food?" He changed the subject, picking up the order pad from the counter.

"I'm having lunch with grandma in a while. Mom's supposed to come pick me up." She checked her wristwatch.

"Speak of the devil," Jess tilted his head back to the door slamming behind someone.

"Hi, sorry I'm late!" Lorelai interrupted, crashing onto the chair next to Rory's. "Uhm, Jess?"

He picked a cup from behind the counter and set it down in front of her, filling it with coffee.

"And no lecture. You'd be my favorite if your coffee was anywhere near as good as Luke's."

"I like your coffee," Rory defended it.

"Man, this pregnancy must have destroyed your taste buds," Lorelai shook her head. "Details?"

"On my destroyed taste buds?"

"On how it went with your dad."

"Later. We're going to be late for lunch."

"And speaking of, can I borrow something to wear? I spilled coffee and you've met my mother."

"My closet is your closet."

"Literally."

"I will eventually buy one."

"You should have asked Santa for one!" Lorelai took a gulp of coffee, spilling some more on her top. "Gah!" she mumbled, wiping at it as she stood up. "Ok, I'm going to go get changed."

"How late are we going to be?"

"I'm aiming for fifteen minutes at least."

"I will take your car and leave without you!" Rory threatened her mother as she rushed out of the room.

"Does she know?"

"That I think Jason is a better bass player than Cliff?"

"You're wrong. And you know what I'm talking about." He looked at the curtain to Rory's apartment.

"No," she shook her head. "She makes it sound like it's some big deal so I just…"

"Don't tell her." He finished the sentence she'd left hanging.

"Do you mind?"

"Yeah. So hurt." Jess smirked. "I just wanted to know so I don't say something stupid."

"You're ok, Frank." She smiled too.

"Why?"

"What?"

"Why is it a big deal?"

"Ask her," Rory shrugged again. "She's got it in her head that there's something between us, because I'm definitely in a position to date right now, and she's her usual dog with a bone about it. It's just easier if I skip over details so she has less ammunition."

"So you've sworn off men, huh?"

"I've sworn off you, at least." She mirrored the teasing in his tone, ignoring the light flutter in her chest.

"I'm a terrific prospect."

"The last date you went on lasted an hour."

"That wasn't me," he argued, trying not to laugh. "On the bright side, I'm at least rating high enough on Lorelai's scale that I can be considered for you."

"She did retire the voodoo doll a while ago."

"Told you."

"Friend-ish, I remember," Rory said. "And maybe it's not you, maybe I've just gone down in her eyes so much."

"Ok, if you don't start being nicer to me, I will move the slice of pie I've hidden in the back in case your thing with Emily goes bad."

"Aw, you saved me pie?" She gushed, then frowned a moment later. "One slice?"

"It's more like half a pie."

"You're the best." A grin took over her face, and the fluttering got a lot worse, so she forced herself to look away from him and down at her cup. "How long do I have to wait for her before I can actually take the car?"

"Five minutes."

"Good to know."


	11. Merry

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews.**

* * *

 **Merry**

Rory walked to the Dragonfly door and set her hand on the handle before stopping, turning to look at Lorelai.

"I can't do this."

"You've had the ability to open doors since you were about one. Trust me, child locks were nothing, I thought I'd have to tie you down to stop your little Houdini self from drowning in the lake."

"Mom."

"Rory, Mom will understand."

"Like she understood when you got pregnant?"

"Apples and oranges there, kiddo. Apples and oranges."

"Apples and pears."

"What?"

"They're more closely related."

"While still being completely different fruits," Lorelai put her arm over Rory's shoulders, giving her a quick squeeze. "It will be fine."

"And if it's not?"

"Then it will blow over. She talks to me!" She pointed out. "Even when I don't want her to, but see? If my being pregnant while still in high school is solvable, you? Nothing at all to worry about."

"Ok," Rory's voice quivered with hesitancy, but she opened the door nonetheless. "You sure?" She whispered, looking at the woman waiting for them in the library.

"I'm sure." Lorelai nodded, walking to her mother. "Hi, Mom! Good drive?"

"It was atrocious."

"Well… uh… holiday weekends will do that to you," she mumbled.

"Is Rory ok?" Emily asked, making her daughter turn her head to spot Rory still in the doorway.

"Uhm…" she hesitated. "Blisters. She's got very bad blisters." She tried to save it, glaring at the younger woman.

"Blisters?" Emily's eyebrows shot up, but before Lorelai got to reply again, Rory walked up to them.

"Hi, Grandma." She gave the woman a quick hug. "You look nice."

"I look like I've been on the road for far too many hours," she protested.

"Not true," Rory countered. "Let's sit," she suggested.

"Is everything ok with your room, Mom?"

"Everything's fine. How's Luke?"

"He's fine. At the diner. You'll see him tomorrow," Lorelai babbled, glancing at Rory again, trying to encourage her. "Rory, did you…"

"Shall we go have lunch?" She said while standing up, ignoring Lorelai. "I'm starving."

"Let's." Emily agreed, looping her arm through Rory's.

"How are Berta and the kids?"

* * *

"And then they shipped the wood to Stars Hollow Drive somewhere in Texas and it's going to take forever to get it back because of the holidays, so we're already behind!" Lorelai finished her story. "I mean it's got to be some kind of record, being behind on a construction process that we haven't even started, but Tom says he can make up some time."

"Make up some time? With construction? Is that safe?"

"Oh, I learned my lesson last time, we planned six weeks of delays into the estimate," she said with a sigh. "Hopefully we'll sneak in on time, I want to open on the sixth of May, because it's the Dragonfly anniversary and it'd give us a couple of weeks to work out any kinks before Memorial Day weekend."

"Grandma…?" Rory finally spoke, putting down the fork she'd been using to move her food around the plate since it had arrived.

"Are you feeling…?"

"Can I just…" she interrupted her grandmother before she could finish the sentence. "I have something to tell you."

"Is this about that ridiculous job of yours? Hanlin offers you a positon at Chilton, you turn it down, and then a few months later, you're working in some school no one's ever heard of!"

"It is, sort of, but not really. I'm starting at Chilton in the fall, as soon as I'm onto a Masters, I'm just looking to get some experience before then," she tried to explain.

"You are? Rory, that's wonderful! Why didn't you say something earlier?"

"That's not it." She forced a breath, looking at her mother for encouragement.

"You've got this," Lorelai whispered with a smile

"Ok, so I'm just going to come out and say it and you can be mad if you want, but can you be quietly mad, because there are people in here." She twisted her fingers together, stopping to look down at them for a moment. "Thing is, it's all… I'm pregnant." She blurted it out, holding her breath while she waited for a reply.

"Did I hear you right, young lady?"

"Yeah." She sunk back in her chair, waiting to hear what she was going to say.

"Mom, remember…"

"Rory, that's wonderful." Emily spoke over her daughter, not even realizing she'd said anything.

"What?" Rory sat back up, slightly confused. She looked at Lorelai, who returned her bewildered expression. "You know I'm not married, right?"

"Are you happy? With this situation?"

"Yes."

"Then it's wonderful." Emily told her again, standing up to give her a hug. "How can I help?" She asked as soon as they were sat back down again.

"I'm ok, Grandma. Work's good and Luke let me have his old apartment, so I'm doing fine for now but I'll let you know if I need anything," she added before Emily could offer.

"I insist you at least let me pay for your Masters."

"You don't have…"

"I won't hear of it. Your grandfather wanted to provide for your education and he will."

"Grandma, that's…"

"That is the very least I can do."

"Thank you so much."

"Not another word. Are you sure there's not more I can do? I can buy a house, maybe somewhere near Chilton so you don't have to commute from here?"

"I'm fine. I like having Luke on hand to make me food any time."

"And I'll be here for the babysitting needs," Lorelai added.

"Can I ask about the father?"

"He knows, but is choosing not to be involved."

"Well, that is his loss then." Emily smiled, trying to reassure the young woman. "Tell me everything. How are you feeling? I had awful morning sickness with your mother."

* * *

"You lived?"

"I lived," Rory nodded, sitting at the counter in front of Jess later that day. "Don't even need pie."

"How about wanting pie?"

"Always."

"One sec." He came back a moment later, putting down a whole pie in front of her before getting her a cup of decaf. "Luke found the other one, started to throw a fit, told him it was yours, he insisted."

"I swear, it's like twenty percent baby, eighty percent pie why I can barely button my jeans any more," she said with a smile. "It was nice though, finally telling someone and having their first reaction be enthusiasm. And I'm including myself in that one."

"You never really told me, so if you want, you can tell me now and I'll do a dance or something."

"Much as the visual entertains me, I'll pass." She smiled again. "Do you actually work here now?"

"I was trying to do some work, Luke looked about ready to blow a gasket, thought I'd stop it."

"You're a real life superhero."

"Getting fitted for my cape tomorrow."

"Haven't you seen _The Incredibles_? No capes!"

"Tights still good though?"

"Oh, yeah, you don't have to rethink the whole outfit," Rory laughed, taking another bite of the pie. "You coming by tonight?"

"Nine ok?"

"I'll order pizza."

* * *

"Doing well," Jess walked up to Rory the next day. "Been at this party close to an hour and not talked to anyone yet beyond saying hello."

"Very impressive."

"I'm gonna go check if Luke needs any help as soon as I've finished this drink."

"Are you actually going to help if he says yes?"

"I'll stand within in earshot so he doesn't rant to the empty kitchen," he smirked. "How are you doing?"

"I'm keeping count of how many cheeseballs mom eats."

"And?"

"Seven so far."

"Geez."

"I think she might be going for the record. Luke made a single large one a few years back and it never even made it out of the kitchen." Rory smiled. "Did you see Grandma talk to TJ earlier?" She tilted her head towards the older woman, now looking enthralled in a conversation with Sookie.

"Her face nearly made being here worth it."

"Mom did suggest seating them next to each other for the meal."

"And you stopped this?"

"I like Grandma," she defended herself. "And I'm pretty sure everyone in the ambulance crew is drunk already."

"Spoilsport," Jess smirked, emptying the last of his drink and waving the empty glass towards the kitchen. "I'll be back in a while, see if I can keep the not talking to anyone record."

"Don't I count?"

"I like you," another smirk before leaving the room, and she watched him for a second too long.

* * *

"Jess, right?" Emily greeted him as she made her way to the drinks table where he had just finished refilling his glass.

"Nice to see you again, Mrs Gilmore," he nodded. "Can I…?" He looked at her glass and she nodded.

"White wine, please." She held out the glass to him. "Your father is a very interesting man."

"My…?" he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"TJ?"

"Not related."

"Oh. I'm sorry,"

"Don't know if you have to be for that one." He held out the now full glass back to her.

"Thank you. Do you still live in the area?" She changed the subject.

"Philadelphia." He took a sip from his drink.

"Lovely city, I attended a a friend of mine's son's wedding there a few years back."

"It's not bad."

"I think Lorelai mentioned you work in publishing now, is that right?"

"A couple of friends and I own our own company. Nothing big. Pays the bills."

"That's quite impressive. What kind of books do you publish?"

 _In the meantime, across the room._

"Oh, no!" Rory gasped, mid-conversation with Lorelai as she spotted the two on the other side of the room.

"What?"

She just tilted her head towards the scene and her mother glanced over her shoulder.

"I'll get the camera," Lorelai exclaimed, excitedly.

"I'm going to rescue him."

"Just five minutes, Rory, please, don't ruin it now!"

"Have another cheeseball." She told her, already marching towards her grandmother and Jess.

"I'm sorry," Rory mouthed to Jess as she made it to them. "I think Mom's trying to become the next Miss Patty with how strong she made this eggnog, I can smell the booze halfway across the room." Rory stepped in between them, setting her glass down on the table and refilling it with some water. "Jess, Luke was looking for you a second ago, I think he needs a hand in the kitchen and if we let Sookie in there she'll start complaining that he's dicing not chopping or something and we'll never eat!"

"Sure," he nodded. "Good to see you again, Mrs Gilmore."

"You too, Jess."

"You have a drink, Grandma?"

"Yes," the woman nodded. "Is there anyone else in this room I shouldn't talk to lest they be needed urgently elsewhere?" she asked Rory with a good-natured mocking tone to it.

"Grandma…" she rolled her eyes. "Luke… really… food."

"Mhm," Emily took a sip from her drink.

* * *

"I had a lovely time today, Lorelai," Emily said later that night, after everyone else had left. "Thank you."

"Not really up to your dos but…"

"It was a wonderful party." She set her empty glass down. "Lorelai?"

"Hm?" She mumbled, stacking some empty glasses together.

"Is Rory seeing that man?"

"Who?"

"Jess."

"Oh. No. I don't think so," Lorelai shook her head, adding another glass to the others. "No." She said again after a moment's thought.

"Alright," Emily said with a small nod. "I should go back to the inn."

"Ok." She picked up a couple of plates too, glancing over at her mother who had started putting on her scarf. "Mom?"

"Yes?"

"Do you want to stay? Rory and I were going to watch a movie, see if there's any more cheeseballs left. You can crash in her old room if it gets too late."

"I don't want to intrude."

"You wouldn't be," Lorelai smiled.

"…alright." Emily agreed after a moment's hesitation. "Would you like a hand with the plates?"

"I'm nearly done."

"Ok, alcohol is the only thing saving eggnog, this thing is an abomination," Rory walked back in the room, grimacing as she drank from her glass. "Luke says he's nearly done washing the dishes."

"We're almost done here too. Help grandma pick a movie to watch, ok?"

"Cool." She sat down on the couch, picking up the remote and moving a couch cushion to make room for her grandmother. "Bring me back some pie." She called after her mother as she left to go to the kitchen. "Grandma, can I introduce you to Netflix?"


	12. Fun Day

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews.**

* * *

 **Fun day**

A couple of weeks later.

"Hey," Jess greeted Rory, walking up as she watched Kirk try to restack the cups a young boy had knocked down.

"You made it!" she smiled, the unease she'd been ignoring all morning as she waited for him to get there finally gone. "Good to see I wasn't having a stroke or something, because that was more likely than you coming voluntarily to the Winter Carnival."

"I think it's only my health you need to worry about here for agreeing to it."

"Doula's gonna be so excited to have you see her big debut."

"Kid needs to learn to deal with disappointment."

"I'd buy the attitude a lot more if you weren't actually here," she pointed out.

"Kick a guy when he's down, won't you?"

"How about I buy you some cotton candy to make up for it?"

"Can I have some punch instead? It'd help the whole living through the day thing I'm going for."

"Sorry, Taylor banned Miss Patty from selling it before five."

"And he thought that was a good idea?" Jess asked.

"He's in a mood."

"Why?"

Rory looked at one of the booths, covered with a tarp and an 'out of order' sign hanging on it.

"Go on," he encouraged her.

"Taylor made Kirk in charge of the 'pin the tail on the donkey' and then Mom talked to him and one thing lead to another and…" she finished with a shrug. "It's why Kirk's on stacking duty too."

"How did she manage to ruin the dumbest game around?"

"She made it into 'pin the wig on Trump'."

"Oh, come on, and Taylor took that away from the world?"

"It's disrespectful to our president elect."

"Our president elect is disrespectful to the world."

"The same argument Mom made," Rory laughed. "Anyway, Taylor went on a rampage, tore the whole thing down this morning and since Miss Patty helped with the props, she's in trouble too."

"People should know by now nothing good comes from listening to your mother."

"Kirk never learns," she said with another shrug.

"What's Lorelai's punishment in all of this?"

"Taylor thought denying her punch all day was enough."

"Probably is."

"She's been complaining to anyone who'll listen." She pointed to Lorelai who was talking to someone who was at her booth. "And she's been getting a lot of people all day."

"Paul Anka telling the future again?"

"Why ruin a classic?" Rory smiled. "What do you say, want to hear what's in store for you?"

"How drunk was she when she wrote the fortunes?"

"Somewhere past tipsy, but still able to use a pen. Barely. I helped near the end of the night. It all goes to charity," she added.

"What's the charity, Taylor's fund for properly maintained lawns?"

"It's the bridge again, he wants to get new lights for it."

"Ok." Jess nodded.

"Thought I'd have to browbeat you into it."

"I actually like the bridge."

"It's the memories of Luke's 'sink or swim' approach to parenting, isn't it?"

"Something like that," he glanced at her with a small smile, walking up to Lorelai's booth. "I hear you're to blame for the lack of booze?" he asked the woman.

"I made a suggestion, I don't understand why everyone's blaming me!"

"You should know you can't suggest things to Kirk," Rory pointed out. "I've brought a customer."

"Ready to hear what the future has in store? Step right up, step right up!" Lorelai put on her best showman voice, tapping her hands on the table to the beat of a drum. "Ok, I'm done."

"Good, 'cause I was about to bail if you didn't stop," Jess said.

"Then give me your dollar and prepared to be amazed."

Jess pulled a couple of bills from his pocket and picked one, handing it over.

"Show time!" Lorelai tapped the table again and the dog jumped up. "Spin," she told Jess and he gave the wheel a push.

"On a scale of one to ten, how much are you regretting this?" Rory asked, watching him.

"About an eight."

"There's still room to go then," Lorelai chuckled. "Here you go," she picked the paper that Paul Anka had stopped the wheel to and handed it to Jess.

"Sunday is your fun day," he read, cocking his eyebrows. "Really? That's not even trying to tell me my future."

"Sunday is in the future, so now you know it's going to be a fun day. I was tired," Lorelai added as justification.

"You were drunk," Rory reminded her with a smile.

"Well you weren't helping like you were supposed to." She argued back. "Could be worse, Taylor got one when he was here yelling at me and Kirk and it said 'the love of your life is standing next to you' and you should have heard his volume go up another fifty decibels!"

"They're destined to be together," Jess smirked, checking his wristwatch.

"Tell Taylor that, will you, but make sure I'm in earshot."

"Pass. Sorry, Doula's show's about to start so I should…"

"Have fun. Rory, can you follow him and take some pictures, because I'm really going to want to remember the time Jess went voluntarily to a kids' ballet show. And bring me back a corndog."

"He may be going to this, but I've got a few years before I have to sit through it. Or maybe I'll just keep the kid away from Miss Patty and avoid the situation altogether," Rory shook her head. "I'll go get corndogs though." She waved goodbye to her mother and walked away from her booth with Jess. "Are you running to hide straight after the show?"

"I promised Doula I'd take her to play some of the games." He shook his head. "You wanna join?"

"I don't want to intrude in your time."

"You'd basically be keeping me sane while she runs around hyped up on sugar."

"And I'm going to be doing anything other than running around hyped up on sugar?" Rory asked with a bemused tone to it.

"You'll tire each other out, it still works for me."

"Ok then, if you're sure, come find me after the show. I'll try not to sulk when she beats me at ring toss." She laughed, stopping at the food stand. "See you in an hour."

"If I live."

"If you live."

* * *

"Today was fun," Rory told Jess as they got back to her apartment later that evening, stopping to unbutton her coat next to the door.

"Speak for yourself, I'm ready to collapse. Coffee?" He pointed to the machine and she nodded.

"Yes, please. That last snow cone was a terrible idea, I need something to wash it down."

"I did try to stop you," Jess mentioned, turning around to look at her again, the coffee pot in his hand ready to be filled. His eyes fell on the slight roundness of her abdomen that hadn't been there when he had seen her last. It took him a moment to recover. She noticed his hesitation.

"Happened a few days ago," she told him, running her curled fingers down her stomach, feeling ever so slightly self-conscious. "The starting to look like it might be caused by a baby thing did, anyway, I had this 'one too many slices of pizza' thing going for a while and it's just… ugh, I don't know, not like I wasn't expecting it, but it still seems like it's going too fast, you know?"

Jess nodded, filling the coffee pot with water and going back to the machine.

"Jess?" Her voice was lower, laced with something he couldn't quite pick up on.

"Yeah."

"It's ok, you know? To feel weird about this whole situation?" She let out a loud breath, hoping words would come with it. "'Cause I feel weird about it so it's not like you'd be all alone on a limb there or something. And this stuff we're doing, with the phone calls and the tv watching and the whatever? I get it if it all gets too weird and you want to stop." She started picking at the hem of her shirt to avoid looking at him.

"Appreciate the offer."

"I had to."

"I know."

"Can you tell me though?" Rory asked, feeling her teeth pulling at her lip. "I don't need more than a text and maybe I don't get to ask for favors here but…"

"I'd text," he told her, acutely aware that the idea of not talking to her every day had left him feeling like he'd been sucker punched.

"Thank you," she smiled, going to sit on the couch. "I'll find the next episode."

* * *

"Really? Here?" Rory cocked her eyebrows as she sat down next to him on the old wooden bridge the next afternoon, handing him a cup of coffee from _Luke's_.

"Had to see what the carnival was for."

"Taylor's assured us it's going to look beautiful in six months' time. We raised enough to actually do it, which is a first."

"Bet it was my dollar."

"Definitely. I don't know why he insists on picking a cause, we all know he's going to run all of these things with or without something to fix."

"Let him, it keeps him busy and he doesn't try to take over the world or something."

"So, what's this about?" She waved her own cup around. "I thought you were leaving straight after Liz's lunch."

"I…" He had stayed up most of the night, idiotically trying to figure out why he couldn't stop talking to her, or what was going through his own mind and then, seeing her, it had stopped being a question. "Don't know. Not coming back for a while, so thought we'd have one cup before I go."

"Oh," she bit her lip. "I didn't think… I suppose it makes sense, you've been here a lot lately what with the wedding and stuff, and it's not like there's anything left so…" she stopped. "I'm glad you texted. A goodbye coffee is an excellent idea." She held her cup towards his in a silly toast and he touched it with his.

"Liz mentioned Easter, I'm not going away forever."

"Still a pretty long time." It gnawed at her, furiously ravaging the inside of her chest. "Better have some cake too before you go."

"Ok. We'll have cake." Jess smiled.

* * *

"Hey," Matthew walked into Jess' office the next morning, holding a stack of papers in one hand. "I don't want to work." He sighed, sitting across from him. "What are you up to?"

"Not much." He shrugged too, looking at his phone on the desk, feeling like it was the nuclear football instead of the slightly old iPhone that he'd been meaning to replace for a while. "You ever realize you're doing something stupid and you should stop?"

"Yeah." The other man nodded. "Is it a girl?"

"Forget it."

"Moron," he chuckled. "Let me know if you want to drink about it."

"Appreciate the offer." Jess shook his head, trying to physically get himself out of it. "What'd you want?"

"Right, these need your signature on them," he pushed the stack of papers towards Jess. "You even going to try and stop?" He asked as he stood up again.

"Don't think I can."

"Giant moron," he laughed again. "I made coffee if you want it."

"Thanks."

"Jess?" He stopped in the doorway. "Tell the girl."

"It's more complicated than that."

"It's never more complicated than that."

"Get out."

"The printer's coming by at ten." He called out of the doorway before going back to his office, leaving Jess to stare at his phone again.


	13. Worry

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews :).**

* * *

 **Worry**

"Good morning," Lorelai greeted her husband, giving him a quick kiss as she walked up to the diner counter. "Paul Anka brought me his lead again this morning."

"I took him out before I left."

"That dog…" she shook his head. "Rory?"

Luke looked over her shoulder at the young woman, sitting and typing on her laptop at one of the window tables.

"How long?" Lorelai asked.

"Forty five minutes."

"Must be a good morning. Bacon, eggs, coffee and a dog less versed in emotional blackmail."

"You picked him. See if you can get her to eat," Luke glanced at Rory again. "I've packed her some snacks for later."

"I'll give it a try," Lorelai kissed him again before going to Rory's table and sitting across from her. Rory held her finger up, to ask for some time before typing slightly faster for thirty seconds.

"Morning," she closed her laptop. "You're late."

"Paul Anka."

"I've told you, you have to work a system with Luke so he can't con you into two walks."

"He left me post its on the fridge for a while, but then Paul Anka learned to take them off and hide them. I found a stack of drooly paper behind the living room chair about a week after we started."

"You should get him his own tv show," Rory smiled, picking up her phone and checking it quickly. "Or at least a circus act."

"The fair went to his head enough, he got grumpy when I was walking him and someone walked past without paying attention to him."

"As he should."

"So, breakfast?" Lorelai asked, getting a head shake in reply.

"Not today."

"That kid is going to be grounded until he starts college if he doesn't start behaving."

"I wish you'd stop calling it he, Miss Patty hounded me the other day about not telling them it's a boy and then didn't believe me when I told her I don't know yet."

"It's definitely a boy. And speaking of…"

"Today. I'll call today."

"You've been saying that since Monday."

"Oh, hey, there's Luke with your breakfast. How nice," Rory changed the subject.

"Rory?" The man asked, setting the plate down in front of Lorelai.

"More decaf, please."

"How about some fruit?"

"I'm fine," Rory shook her head. "I'll come by for lunch."

"I'll make you some brownies," he told her, leaving before she got a chance to protest.

"How much time does he spend making me food?"

"He's Luke," Lorelai shrugged. "Don't argue with the love and care, it's like the waves, you can't stop them. Except they don't go away. Give me a better metaphor."

"I'll get back to you."

* * *

" _Three pages this morning_ ," Rory texted Jess as she walked to Stars Hollow High. _"You?"_

" _About ten last night. Nothing this morning."_

" _I like that you still try. When was the last time you did any editing in the morning?"_

" _It's too early for your mocking."_

" _Shouldn't have opened the door then, should you?_ "

" _I never learn."_

Rory smiled, stopping at the front door to the high school. _"Just got to work, talk tonight?"_

" _Free after seven."_

" _I'll call."_

* * *

"Hey," Rory greeted him as he picked up the phone later that day. "How's it going?"

" _Oh, you know, about to break into song and dance."_

"Nothing new then?" She smiled, sitting on the couch and kicking her shoes off. "This week's been too long already and there's still a day to go."

" _You know, you've got a trust fund, you could quit work."_

"And teach my kid what, that growing up to be its dad is a great plan?" She stopped, feeling like crap over what she'd said. "That was a crap blow." She mumbled. "I told you, it's been a long week. But hey, writing's good, so there's that, right?"

" _There's always that. You want to talk?"_

"That's what everyone does, talk. I'm over it. I just… I wish they'd leave me alone for a while." Rory pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and index fingers, scrunching her face to get rid of the small headache building up. "I can't even step a foot into town anymore without someone asking me if I've scheduled an ultrasound yet, and do I know when it is, and is it a boy or a girl, oh, how they hope it's whatever and I'm exhausted and grumpy and I'm supposed to be feeling better, but I still can't eat in the morning and screw this entire thing. Seriously, this whole process is some massive joke," she stopped, realizing she'd spent the last minute ranting when she'd been doing her best to avoid it. "Sorry."

" _I'll take that as a yes."_

"Hilarious," she relaxed, pressing her back into the back of the sofa. "Why is it so hard to have people leave me alone for a while?"

" _In Stars Hollow?"_

"Yeah, I know, it's stupid."

" _Go see Paris this weekend. You need to get out."_

"No, what I need to do is actually schedule this damn ultrasound before the kid comes out," she replied with a soft laugh. "You want to watch something?"

" _Are you ranted out?"_

"For now."

" _Let me know if it changes."_

* * *

"Haven't done it." Rory held her hand out the next morning as Lorelai sat at her table. "And I don't want to talk about it."

"Rory…"

"I said…"

"Ok." The other woman nodded. "And breakfast…?"

"Ugh."

"I'm so sorry."

"Just get food, I'll suffer in grimacing silence," Rory lightened up slightly, packing her laptop away.

* * *

Friday night.

"Hey," Rory greeted Jess when he answered the phone, kicking her shoes off and sitting back in her old bed. "How's editing?"

" _Same old,"_ he set his manuscript down, picking up a beer bottle instead. _"What was tonight's movie?"_

"Double feature of _Last Action Hero_ and _The Jayne Mansfield Story_."

"… _I'm missing the connection here."_

"Schwarzenegger. He played Mickey."

" _Of course,"_ Jess rolled his eyes.

"You're slipping, you should have gotten that."

" _I hope the punishment's not sitting through either of them, 'cause I'd rather go for a beating, or talking to Kirk, or something."_

"I'll let you off with a verbal warning. This time," Rory added, trying to sound ominous.

" _Well, I'm terrified."_

"Rightfully so," she smiled again. "Jess…?"

" _You still haven't done it, have you?"_

"Babette asked me if I went and there's something wrong with the baby and that's why I won't tell anyone what happened," Rory sighed, sliding her feet under the blanket. "I don't know how to explain it to any of them."

" _Explain it to me."_

"You'll call and let them know?"

" _I'm in the town gossip WhatsApp group, I'll put it up there,"_ Jess smirked. _"Why aren't you doing it?"_

"Because something might be wrong with the baby."

" _That's a very slim chance."_

"It's a very terrifying chance though."

" _I know,"_ he reassured her, and there was something about his tone that somehow made it better because he understood. _"Not gonna change anything, the waiting."_

"Yeah," Rory agreed. "But…"

" _You'd be ok."_

"It doesn't feel like it, you know?" She felt herself bite her lip, her chest heavy with worry. "It's like the world would end if anything was wrong with this baby, and I'm not ready to face that. And yes, I know, it's probably going to be fine, but this thing, it's just… eating at me. And then I feel stupid, because the more I let it, the worse it is and it's all…"

" _Normal?"_ He offered. _"Pretty sure it is,"_ he added. _"I may not have any first-hand experience here, but…"_

"Yeah. I should go. It's so late and you're…"

" _I'm doing nothing. I'm staring at this stupid manuscript wondering if it's too late to go join the circus or something."_

"You're overthinking it."

" _Coming from you?"_

"Hey, it's my life that needs work, writing's actually solid."

" _Give me that in writing, I'll see you on the editing side."_

"Ugh," she groaned. "Got a while to go until that. But if you decide you want another set of eyes for your book…"

" _I'll let you know."_

"Good. Sorry, I'm beat, I just…" she had wanted to talk to him, because Fridays had started to feel weird without a phone call. "I don't know."

" _Yeah. Pizza and movies tomorrow?"_

"Definitely. And thanks for not making me feel like a weirdo," she smiled, hanging up the phone after a quick goodbye. She rubbed her eyes, trying to figure out if she had the energy to get changed into pajamas when she heard a quick knock at the door. "Yeah?"

Lorelai creaked the door open, poking her head through. "I thought I heard you."

"Yeah. I was…" she tried to think of something, but couldn't figure out a good excuse. "On the phone," She decided to go for half the truth, leaving out the details from it. "Why are you up?"

"Paul Anka wanted to come downstairs and he gets grumpy if we make him come alone," Lorelai said like it was perfectly normal. "You ok?" She ran a hand over Rory's arm, tilting her head to the side with a worried look. "You've been…"

"Weird?" Rory suggested.

"I was trying to find something nicer."

"It's fine." She looked at the open door. "You have any tea?"

"Like Luke hasn't been getting anything you've expressed interest in, no matter how in passing," Lorelai tried to roll her eyes, but she sounded too in love with her husband to sell it. "Come on." She stood up, waiting for her daughter. Once in the kitchen, she poured some water into a kettle and turned the stove on. "Do you mind?" she motioned to the coffee pot, taking out two cups. "I'm not suffering with you."

"Go ahead."

"So?" Lorelai asked, sitting down across from her daughter, pushing her tea towards Rory a couple of minutes later.

"I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry about."

"I've been…"

"Worried? Scared? Wishing things were different?"

"All of those," she confirmed. "I…" Rory let out a deep sigh, her eyes closed for a moment. "I keep wishing _he_ was here."

"Oh."

"Not…" she forced a smile. "Not like that. Maybe it's what you said, maybe it's just wishing things were different instead, that's a better way to put it."

Lorelai stretched her arm out across the table, giving her daughter's hand a squeeze.

"I'm so scared, Mom, and I don't want it to be this way, and I know it is, and I can't change it, but I need some more time before I can face this ultrasound. Because even if the baby's fine, then I have to make decisions, all by myself? I have to pick a car seat and a crib and a name and everything that comes with a baby, and he's not here, and this isn't how I pictured having a baby would be like."

"I know." She squeezed her hand again, remembering the time she had ranted to Luke about the same thing Rory was. "But you're wrong."

"You're here."

"I'm here," Lorelai confirmed.

"How did you do it? How did you go through this, feeling like this, in grandma's house?"

"You mean other than pretending Matt Dillon was my boyfriend and we were going to run away together?" She joked. "I don't know, but I've got to tell you, nowhere near as well as you're doing."

"Mom."

"No. Look, maybe I wasn't super excited for five minutes there at the beginning, but lately? You're doing a great job, and no matter what you name it, or what crib you get, or whatever, you're going to do an even greater job with this kid. I know that. Just don't name it Agamemnon."

"What?"

"I was watching _Grey's_."

"We banned you from medical shows."

"It's not my fault you left me unsupervised," she laughed.

"Wait, someone in that is called Agamemnon?"

"No. It's a long story," Lorelai added. "Involving baby names."

"And what disease have you convinced yourself you have this week?"

"Now that you mention it, I've been feeling brain tumor-y. I was just being stoic." She chuckled again. "Tell you what, you take as much time as you need with this, ok? I'll tell everyone to back off. Again."

"That doesn't sound like the most feasible plan. Mostly because skipping ante-natal care will probably get me in trouble with CPS."

"Grandma's rich, she'll get you a good lawyer."

"Thank you," Rory smiled. "For everything."

"Any time. You're doing just fine," she told her again.

"I think I'm going to go back to bed. It's been a long week." She stood up, taking the cup of tea with her. "I'll them on Monday."

"You can take more time."

"No, I should do it. I'll let you know what time."

"I'll be there."


	14. Let them eat cake

**A/N: I feel a bit like Edison about this chapter: haven't failed, just found a lot of ways that don't work (maybe not quite 10,000 though). Hope this one isn't too terrible. Thank you for the reviews :).**

* * *

 **Let them eat cake**

A week later.

Rory pulled her phone out of her bag, still clutching the ultrasound picture in the other hand as she waited for her mother to bring the car over. He picked up after the first ring, and her heart fluttered unexpectedly.

" _So?"_

"Baby's fine." She let out a breath that felt like she had been holding for too long, her face relaxing into a smile. "She's fine, nothing's wrong, and she's so beautiful, Jess."

" _Do I get an 'I told you so'?"_

"Yes," she laughed. "You can even have two."

" _Man, you're in a good mood. So, a girl, huh?"_

"Damn Gilmore thing." Another chuckle, running her thumb over her daughter's face in the picture.

" _Can I have an over/under on how many people ask if you're going to name her Lorelai?"_

"Twenty?" she suggested.

" _Definitely taking the over on that,"_ Jess smirked.

"I should probably let you go, Mom's just driving around the corner and you're at work and I just… I don't know, I had three people who made me promise I'd call them first, so I thought I'd go with someone who wasn't any of them."

" _I'm down with being used to draw ire. Who am I pissing off here?"_

"Luke, grandma and Lane."

" _Ok, then you have to go and call them, 'cause Emily…? I'm not that brave a guy."_ Jess chuckled. _"You sound happy."_

"I am. I really am," Rory gushed. "Mom's planning on hitting every open baby store in town when we get back so I'm not sure what time I'll call tonight but…"

" _Any time. You can tell me how I did with that over call."_

"Yeah. Bye, Jess."

" _Bye."_

She put the phone back in her purse, keeping the photo, before getting into Lorelai's car.

"So, who won being first?"

"Jess." Rory answered without thinking.

"Oh," she mumbled. "That's one way to settle the fight."

"I'll tell everyone they were first, that way there's no hard feelings," she smiled. "I should start before Luke panics. Lane said she's going to be at the diner, maybe I'll get two birds with the same stone?" She added, pulling out her phone again. "Just look at her," she gushed, showing her mother the picture.

"She's the prettiest thing I've ever seen," Lorelai agreed. "Ok, come on, baby clothes wait for no woman."

* * *

"We need to be quick about this, because I've got a long list," Lorelai told Rory as they walked into the diner half an hour later. "Oh, my god." She stopped in the doorway, pushing her daughter in first. "Well, I think this is for you!" She laughed at the pink and blue balloons tied to the register. "What did you do?" She asked Luke, wrapping her arm around him.

"I don't know, I thought…" the man got flustered, and shrugged. "I didn't know if it was ok for everyone to know, so I left all the balloons up. Wait." He held his hand out and went into the kitchen, coming back out with a chocolate cake.

"You're the best," she gushed, kissing his cheek. "Rory, look!" She pointed to the cake and the _"It's a girl!"_ writing on it. "You psychic now? Could have saved us a co-pay there."

"I made the cake this morning, wrote that after Rory called," Luke explained, going back behind the counter as the girls settled in at the counter. "Coffee?" he handed them two forks, holding the pot in his hand.

"We have time, right?" Rory asked and her mother nodded.

"Always have time for coffee."

"Luke…?" Rory started, trying to thank him but the man waved her off.

"I'll get you some decaf."

She smiled at how much he reminded her of Jess, before picking up the fork and starting to dig into the cake. "What's the plan for this afternoon?"

"Go buy everything."

"You know I have nowhere to unpack, right?"

"Ok, go buy everything and some baby furniture."

"Can't. Grandma made me promise I'd let her do it and neither of us can take her in a fight."

"Well that's not fair," Lorelai sulked, digging into the other side of the cake. "Buy everything and keep it at my place until grandma swoops in and buys you furniture. Then you can have it back."

"You're on a mission."

"I'm always on a mission. Only this time, you can't say no because we need to celebrate this properly, and the best way to celebrate is by buying everything. Maybe second best, martinis are probably better, but let's not break baby now. Or is it too late for it to grow an extra head now and we're safe?"

"Can we stop by the newsstand? I want to see if I can run into Patty or Babette and get this done and out in one day."

"We could just pop all the blue balloons, maybe they'll drop by here and get it that way?"

"Also an option." Rory smiled. "Jess has the over on twenty people asking if I'm going to name her Lorelai, I need to keep tabs."

"You've been talking to Jess a lot lately." Lorelai remarked.

"Yeah. Usually writing. It's nice to have someone who's done this book thing before."

"Ok," she nodded. "And that's it?"

"Yes. I mean, no, we don't only talk about writing, but yes, that's it."

"Do I need to lecture you again on it being ok to date?"

"I'd rather you didn't. Me and baby Not Lorelai are doing ok here, I think we'll take a pass on whatever it is you're about to suggest."

"Just saying, a guy who cares enough…"

"Mom," she stopped her, shaking her head. "My life's complicated enough. I don't need…"

"Ok. Sorry. But…" she started again, then stopped. After a second, she changed her mind again. "He's good, Rory."

"You know, you want to go back in time fifteen years and have this conversation?"

"People change. He was a jerk in high school. Now, he's… not a jerk."

"And, what, that means we have to date? We're friends."

"You're not friends."

"That's a pretty bold statement. Is it because we dated in high school, is that why? 'Cause there's got to be a statute of limitations on that one."

"Friends don't look at each other the way the two of you look at each other," Lorelai pointed out, flashing back to the fair.

"We're…" Rory stopped, the hitches and aches and knots that came with him getting in the way of the lie that was about to come out of her mouth. "I'm having a baby," she said, stubbornly, instead.

"I think Jess may have noticed."

"Mom, come on," she practically pleaded.

"I don't want you to not do this because of the baby. Talk to him, see what he has to say."

"No. It's too complicated, we have too much history and he lives two hundred miles away. So even without the baby? That's just a bad idea. And now we're done talking about this. Where are we going first this afternoon?" She asked, taking another bite of cake.

Lorelai started saying something, then stopped, because this time she knew she had pushed too far. "I'm thinking start with Clover, because they close first, then work our way out in a clockwise pattern."

"How many stores are there in this town?"

"More than we need."

"And we're going to…"

"Hit every single one of them," Lorelai announced, taking another bite of the cake.

* * *

"Luke?" Lorelai asked her husband later that night, as they were lying in bed. "You asleep?"

"If I say yes, are you going to care?"

"No." She propped herself up on one elbow. "Does Jess ever talk to you?"

"Hm?"

"I don't mean like do you talk. But does he _talk_ to you?"

"I'm confused."

"About Rory."

"Oh. No." Luke shook his head.

"Never?"

"No. Wait, no. I asked him once if they're dating, he said no."

"Why'd you ask?"

"They were hanging out at her place."

"And that's everything he said?"

"Yes," Luke replied. "Why?"

"I don't know. I just think he's into her and she's into him and they're both being stupid. And I know, I know, baby, yes, but… ugh. I don't know." She rolled her eyes, throwing herself back on her pillow. "I'm going to sleep."

"Night," Luke said with a shrug, kissing her quickly. He moved back and waited, keeping a count in his head. She popped up again at six.

"I don't want her to make the same mistakes I did, that's all. It's different, me and her, because she's not sixteen and it's not the eighties, and it's easier, but it seems that she's decided that this is what she has to do, raise the baby on her own and forsake all men and I'm not getting through to her. And maybe it's not even about Jess, although she called him today, and that's got to mean something, but it's… I want her to be happy. And if she wants to be with Jess and Jess wants to be with her, or whomever else, I don't want her to not do it because of the baby."

"Give her time, Lorelai. She'll figure it out."

"But…" she whined, then moved back to the pillow. "Maybe you're right."

"Mhm." Luke closed his eyes, smiling as she snuggled closer to him.

"You think she's happy?"

"Yes."

"Ok. Night."

* * *

"Hey," Rory greeted Jess later that evening, sitting on the couch in her apartment. "Baby Not Lorelai is now stocked with clothes until prom. Possibly well into college, actually."

" _Not Lorelai, huh? Is that hyphenated?"_

"Not sure yet, but it's got a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

" _Definitely unique."_

"It's just… it feels like mom and great-grandma? They're both amazing and I've been not so much lately, and I'm worried poor kid's going to even out the scales in the not amazing favor. Does that make sense?"

" _You need to take down the self-bragging down a notch there."_

"I'll try. I think we could all use a fresh start. Not Lorelai most of all," she smiled. "I bought a baby names book today, but I haven't dared open it yet. I'm afraid anything I like is going to have some awful meaning or going to be too popular or too unpopular or whatever, and now that I know she's got a brain, I have to worry about not ruining her in other ways."

"S _ounds complicated."_

"Yeah. And every time I think of a book character I really like, it feels like there's 3 other with the same name that suck, or I just don't like the name. There are problems with being a book nerd, let me tell you. Life's hard. Does naming characters in books suck as much?"

" _Yes. But there's more responsibility."_

"Of course. Not a plight I've had to deal with yet, I'm just using everyone's names until I'm done, then I'll replace them."

" _I hope I get something cool."_

"You can pick."

" _No way you're getting out of it. I'm curious to see what you'd choose."_

"That's how you end up being Percival, I warn you," Rory laughed. "You want to watch something? Maybe I'll get some ideas from TV."

" _You're not tired?"_

"I'm too …everything to be tired," another laugh. "Plus, baby's been kicking in the evenings, and it's too cool to sleep through." She felt her face explode into a grin. "What do you say? TV?"

" _Yeah."_

"Give me five minutes to grab pizza."


	15. Ok

**A/N: Sorry, guys. It's all piling up in real life. Thank you for the reviews and the infinite patience.**

* * *

 **Ok**

Late March.

"I do not have time for this visit," Lorelai whined as she and Rory stood next to the Dragonfly's front desk. "Seriously, you had to go and tell Mom it's ok?"

"I only committed myself to it, not you too. You can go to the new inn any time you want."

"Oh, right, and miss baby furniture shopping? That would involve my actual dead body and even then…" she mused with a smile. "You'd carry me, right?"

"I can barely move myself, you'll have to figure out your own pallbearers."

"Luke would probably do it," she decided. "So, remember the rules?"

"Rules?"

"Grandma's loaded, let her buy you everything you want, and do not, even jokingly, hint that you are thinking of a baby name."

"You never told me that second one."

"I didn't? Really?"

"Nope," Rory shook her head. "Do I want to know why?"

"Let's just say there were a lot of embroidered baby blankets bought before she figured out I had no intention of naming you Stacy."

" _Fast Times_?"

"Of course," Lorelai confirmed.

"Imagine the _Stacy's Mom_ years."

"A hugely flattering nightmare?" She joked. "Couldn't we have been waiting for her in the dining room instead of having to stand here like idiots?"

"We could go sit down now?" Rory suggested, only to be made with a derisive snort from her mother.

"Ha. And then she can pick on us for not greeting her at the desk, like we said we would?"

"New and improved grandma, remember?"

"Not that… Mom, hi!" Lorelai greeted the woman as she walked into the inn a moment later.

"Why are you both doing standing there?" Emily asked, confused, before her face lit up. "Rory, you look wonderful! Let me look at you!" She stepped closer to her granddaughter. "Absolutely wonderful. You must send me more pictures."

"Thank you."

"Get a Snapchat account for grandma, honey."

"I had one, and it was nothing but pictures of you with the dog filter on."

"How are you feeling?" Emily asked her.

"Exhausted, ravenous, and, most of the time, both together." She answered with a smile.

"Then let's get you some dinner."

"I'm feeling ignored," Lorelai pouted, keeping her voice low for only Rory to hear as they made their way to the dining room. "And I'm complaining?" She questioned herself after a short pause.

"How was the journey?" Rory asked Emily as they sat down at one of the tables.

"The less said, the better. Where all these people are going on a Friday, I'll never know. Lorelai, how's the new inn going?"

"Speaking of less and better," she shrugged. "It will get there. Maybe. I hope. It can't get any worse than it currently is." She buried her face in her hands and Rory patted her back.

"It's been a bad week," she explained to her grandmother.

"Try month," Lorelai mumbled. "Dinner?" She picked up the menus a second later, handing the other two women one. "Sookie's been working on these pork chops that are so good, they might make me actually forget about the disaster at the new inn."

"And it's still nameless?" Emily enquired.

"Yep."

"And the baby?"

"Yep," Rory nodded for this one.

"You both have time."

* * *

"Hey, Luke," Rory greeted the man late Saturday evening as she got back to the diner. "Mom's dropping grandma off at the inn, said she'll meet you at home."

"Ok. You want anything?" He asked, stopping his wipe down of the counter.

"I'm stuffed, we stopped for dinner." She shook her head.

"I had the delivery guy set everything in the baby's side. They wanted to put it together, said your grandmother gave them specific instructions, but I didn't know if that was ok. I'll do it tomorrow."

"You don't have to."

"I want to," he smiled, twisting the rag in his hands.

"Ok," Rory returned the smile.

"I'll do it after lunch rush."

"Thank you."

In the meantime, in the car.

"Lorelai?" Emily said.

"Yeah?"

"I received a wedding announcement in the mail last week."

"That's…nice?" Lorelai said, confused.

"From the Huntzbergers."

"Oh." She let out, then bit the inside of her cheek to keep her face neutral.

"I thought I would let you know, in case you believe this is something you should tell Rory."

"Uh, yeah, I…"

"By the way, I've been thinking I would like to move back closer after Rory has her baby."

* * *

"She just… dropped that, both of those things actually and before I could get a chance to react, we're at the inn and she's saying goodnight. She left me speechless. Me! Of all people!" Lorelai ranted to Luke as she got home a while later. "What do I do? Do I tell Rory? I have to tell her, right? About Logan, not the move, I'm sure Mom will tell her about that. I don't want to tell her. And does this mean Mom suspects that he's baby's dad, or is she just talking about it because they dated or what? Luke, what do I do?"

"I don't know," the man shrugged.

"I have to tell her," she decided. "I don't like responsibility. If I break out into hives overnight, I'm going to hold my mother directly responsible. You know what? I'll go now."

"Lorelai…"

"What, you think I'm sleeping tonight?" She asked him. "I'll be back later." She kissed him quickly before leaving the house.

Ten minutes later, she knocked on Rory's door, slightly out of breath.

"What did grandma do?" Rory asked her, opening the door to let her mother in.

"Oh, my God, I am not built for running." Lorelai whined.

"You ran?"

"More like speed walked," she admitted. "And do you know how many keys I have? Ever since Luke took the spare one downstairs away, it's a nightmare getting into this place."

"You want some decaf?"

"Really?"

"You look like you could use decaf," Rory told her.

"That's mean."

"Fine, but I have no coffee."

"I'm not staying long."

"While ranting about grandma? Hah."

"I'm not…" Lorelai stopped pacing. "Ok, I need to tell you something, and yes, it's something mom told me, but it's not me ranting, so it's ok, right? We should sit down," she waved towards the couch. Rory raised her eyebrows in confusion, then sat down with a defeated shrug, knowing there was no winning with her mother.

"Now are you going to tell me what happened?"

"Leave it to that woman to drop everything into a thirty second conversation, I swear, she's like a phenomenon or something, do you know anyone at Yale who could have her studied?"

"Mom," Rory groaned in frustration.

"Right. Well, see, it's two things, so I'll start with the first one, chronologically, not in order of importance, 'cause I don't know which one's more important, to you anyway, and…" she stopped herself. "Logan got married. Grandma got an announcement."

"Oh," Rory mumbled, taking a second. "Ok."

"Ok?" This time, Lorelai's eyebrows shot up.

"It's not like I didn't know he was going to get married, right? That's been in the cards for ages, so … yeah, ok." she looked down to avoid Lorelai's eyes.

"Rory, you can talk about it…"

"I don't have anything to say," Rory stood up again, hand rubbing her bump without thinking about it. "I told him no, so he can go live his life and I'm going to be happy for him, or try to be happy for him and I'm sure I'll get there one day, right?" She bit her lip, stopping in the baby's side of the apartment. "Nothing's changed. For me or this baby, at least."

"Rory…" Lorelai stood up too, standing a few steps behind her daughter.

"I'm fine," she told her mother. "Do you think this means she knows he's her dad?" She pointed to her bump.

"I don't know." Lorelai shook her head.

"Ok. What's the other thing?"

"What?"

"You said there were two things, right?" Rory reminded her.

"You don't want to talk about the first one any more than that?"

"Not really. I'll let you know if it changes."

"You can, you know? Any time."

"I know," she told her mother with a smile. "But thing is, I thought it'd hurt and turns out? …I feel the same. I'm angry about the things the baby's not going to have, the mom and dad together thing, but that's been there for a while, so him being actually married doesn't change anything as far as I can tell. Maybe it's shock, so let's keep that changing thing on the table. Can you tell me what the other thing is now?"

"Mom's thinking of moving back."

"Oh," she said, with more joy this time. "How are you doing? Do you need to talk?"

"I probably do," Lorelai laughed.

* * *

"Ugh, I don't know how I feel about this," Lorelai complained the next evening as she and Rory walked into the diner and sat at one of the tables.

"Part time. She said part time," Rory rolled her eyes, having been at the receiving end of her mother's rant since they'd said goodbye to Emily.

"Did Emily leave?" Luke came to their table and set two cups down.

"Yeah, she didn't want to make Bertha's… cousin?" Lorelai hesitated, but got a confirmation nod from Rory. "Drive too late, so we had an early dinner. Or at least she had dinner, we need burgers because I haven't had one since lunchtime on Friday and I'm going through withdrawals."

"Rory?"

"Yes, please."

"I'll bring your coffee," the man told them with a defeated sigh.

"She just moved away," Lorelai resumed her complaining.

"Part time. She's still going to be living six hours away a lot of time."

"But she didn't say where she was moving either, just that she's been thinking about it and looking at some properties. What if she decides to move to Stars Hollow?"

"How about you save this freak out for when we know more?"

"No, I think this is the sort of thing that's going to require a lot more than one freak out. She just moved away. I haven't even had a year of freedom."

"Mom, come on."

"I know, she wants to be close to the baby, I get it, I mean Not Lorelai's guaranteed to be an awesome kid, but still."

"Fine. Rant away. I'll pretend to listen." Rory rolled her eyes.

"You're just happy because you like her."

"That's how it works."

"Rory!" Lorelai drew out the name in a whiny voice. "It won't be too bad, right? I can use the baby as buffer?"

"What would this entail? Because if you're planning on throwing my daughter at her and running away…?"

"Just distracting her. I don't know, I haven't thought this through yet."

"Coffee, decaf," Luke chanted, pouring their drinks. "By the way, I put the furniture together earl…"

"Way to bury that lead!" Lorelai interrupted. "Rory?"

"Thank you!" she grinned with excitement, giving the man a hug before rushing up the stairs with Lorelai following behind her.

"Ok, you think you can't run, try doing it up the stairs when you're six months pregnant," Rory huffed once they got to the top. "We're starting to exercise the second baby's out."

"Tap dancing?"

"I'll lock you out." Rory opened the door and walked inside her apartment, stopping in the now furnished baby's room. "Oh, wow."

"It's beautiful."

"It's real," Rory laughed at herself. "I am having a baby. Hope you like it, kid." She told her bump.

"She's going to love it." Lorelai smiled, wrapping her arm over her daughter's shoulders.

* * *

" _Hey,"_ Jess answered the phone later that night and the slight edge building since they'd last talked vanished in a second.

"Hi."

" _You lived?"_

"We lived. Some more so than others."

" _Oh?"_

"Grandma's talking about moving back."

" _Lorelai must be excited."_

"Understatement." She smiled. "Logan got married."

" _You ok?"_

"Yeah."

" _Ok. So, tell me about this move."_


	16. Won't get me down

**A/N: It's this story's first birthday! Since I don't think there's a fanfic equivalent of a smash cake, here's a new chapter and a lot of thanks for putting up with me and for all the lovely support and being lovely people.**

* * *

 **Won't get me down**

A few weeks later.

"Ok, so tell me again when we started celebrating Easter," Rory asked her mother as they walked down the street.

"We've always celebrated Easter," Lorelai shrugged, tugging the dog's lead to get him away from the piece of chewing gum he'd been sniffing at. "Right, you eat nothing but steak at home, but the second you're out…" she mumbled under her breath.

"No, we've always bought chocolate on sale."

"I tried to take you to an egg hunt once when you were a toddler, but you freaked out because you had to step on grass and started screaming."

"I didn't."

"Oh, yeah, and then the Easter bunny came to try and cheer you up and that made you scream even more."

"If I apologize retroactively for everything, do you think the Universe will make sure Not Lorelai's normal?"

"Worth a try."

"I am so sorry for being a weird toddler," Rory said with a grin. "I may put it in writing so I can take the Universe to court if it fails."

"Good plan," she agreed. "Ok, I can see Kirk, I'll meet you inside. Order me a burger and fries and make sure Luke doesn't give me salad."

"Like I have any power," Rory smiled, waving quickly before walking inside the diner. She stopped, barely a step in, seeing Jess standing at the counter taking an order. Because her heart skipped a beat, then made up for it by pounding against her ribcage stronger than it had any right to. "You know, you look a lot like a guy who used to work here," she told him as she got to the counter. Still waiting for calm.

"Huh," Jess smirked.

"Sound like him too."

"One for the X Files," Jess smirked. "Decaf?"

"Yes, please. And lunch. As soon as you tell me what you're doing here, because you said you weren't getting here before the afternoon."

"Good traffic," he shrugged then picked up a cup and set it in front of her.

"You mind if we move to a table? I'm not great with barstools these days," Rory laughed, looking down at herself.

Jess glanced over at Luke, who nodded. Grabbing the cup again and then a second one, he followed her to a table and set them down, but before he could go grab the pots, Luke showed up and filled them.

"Mom wants a burger and fries, no salad. Same for me. But with salad." She added in response to his scolding look.

"Ok," he nodded. "Jess?"

The younger man shook his head.

"So you were about to tell me about this miraculous traffic on the I-95 thing? You think we should call the Pope?" Rory asked Jess as soon as Luke had gone.

"I've sent an email. I don't know," another quick shrug. "Couldn't sleep, thought I'd get an early start. Liz is meditating until one." He rolled his eyes.

"I want to ask if you couldn't find anything better to do than work here, but I live in this place."

"Beats clearing my chakras or whatever."

"Oh, I don't know, I'd pay good money to see that one."

"You're a public school teacher."

"With a trust fund," she reminded him jokingly. "And soon to be private school teacher, thank you."

"What's that, an extra two bucks an hour?"

"And it's all going on textbooks for this degree."

"And babysitting for when you have to do schoolwork?"

"Yeah, 'cause Mom's going to let anyone who's not her take care of the Not Lorelai."

"What happened to Lily?" Jess asked.

" _House of Mirth_."

"And it wasn't even me this time."

"Ok, I'm changing the rules, you have to tell me if I'm about to name my kid after any character who kills themselves."

"But mention one spider and I'm in the doghouse forever," he smirked.

"Completely different."

"How about other animals?"

"Depends on the animal."

"Give me a list," he told her. "What is Lorelai doing?" He cocked an eyebrow, looking out the window at the woman.

"Play date."

He looked at her again, waiting.

"Paul Anka and Petal?" Rory explained.

"This place is straight out of some bizarre seventies kids show." He shook his head with an air of resignation to it. "We still on for tonight?"

"I have a movie lined up."

"Do I get to know in advance?"

"Nope."

"You suck at sharing," Jess said. "I'll bring the pizza. Seven ok?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, my God, I'm so hungry, like call Bono to throw a concert for me hungry! Oh, hi, Jess. You joining us for lunch?" Lorelai started, practically throwing herself in one of the other seats.

"Nah, promised Liz I'll eat with them."

"I've ordered food already," Rory told her mother.

"Only one problem now…" Lorelai eyed the two cups and Jess stood up.

"I'll get you coffee."

"You're a hero."

* * *

"What is it with everyone in this town asking if I'm moving back the second they see me?" Jess asked as Rory opened the door to her apartment later that evening.

"Pete?" She moved back to let him in.

"Yeah."

"Maybe he just misses you."

"He's got you here, he's not going bankrupt any time soon." He set the pizza box on the kitchen table. "And my mother. Don't get me started."

"Oh, come on, it can't be just me ranting."

"Her and TJ, I swear, if they ever go missing…" Jess let the sentence stop there, looking over at his old side of the apartment.

"I forgot you hadn't seen it," she remarked. "I'd give you a tour, but what you see is what you get." She shrugged.

"I like it." He walked around the room, stopping next to a stack of boxes. "Do I want to ask?"

"Grandma keeps sending me things she's sure I'm going to need. I don't even know where she's getting them, there's a cashmere outfit in there! I'm just waiting for Mom and Luke to pick those up and stash them at their place. Mom thinks it's a plan to get me to complain about lack of room so Grandma can swoop in and buy me a bigger place," she rolled her eyes.

"How's Lorelai doing with the move?" He absentmindedly picked up a stuffed bear and looked at it.

"She's not hyperventilating when she sees a _'for sale'_ sign any more, so I think she's on the right track." Another eye roll. "So, how weird is it seeing your old room taken over by baby stuff?"

"Not as weird as seeing you," Jess admitted. "Sorry."

"I get it," she reassured him. "Weird where I am too." Mostly because her heart had unsettled itself again. "I borrowed _Chinatown_ from Mom, 'cause you were saying the other day you wanted to watch it again, but if you're not in the mood…"

" _Chinatown_ 's good." He nodded, setting the toy down again carefully next to the others.

"Ok. Beer? I got it for you, 'cause I figured after TJ, but I have coffee too?"

"Beer's good."

* * *

"What's wrong?" Jess paused the movie a while later, looking at Rory.

"I'm hungry," she whined.

"Seriously?" He practically groaned, looking at the assortment of empty wrappers and boxes on the table in front of them.

Rory shrugged in response.

"I've never seen you eat this much. And that's saying something."

"But I'm technically feeding two Gilmores here. It's a lot of work." She nodded sagely, trying to stay serious.

"This is insane," Jess rolled his eyes. "Do you want me to get you something? I've seen you try to stand up."

"I like how you can mock and be nice in the same breath."

"It was at least two breaths." He smirked. "So?"

"Nah, I'm ok."

"You've been sighing and picking at that wrapper for five minutes. You're not ok."

"I'm not, but I don't have any ice cream."

"There's a diner downstairs."

"Yeah, but there's no Rocky Road in it."

He let out a breath, then stood up. "Come on. Unless you want me to go alone?"

"Please, I do a late night store run at least three times a week," she told him with a smile. "You can wait here if you want. Or go home, we can finish the movie tomorrow."

"Shut up."

"You're just trying to ruin the whole nice vibe you had going there for a while." Rory teased, struggling to her feet. "I'm gonna need to get a crane or something installed soon. Grandma will probably buy me one," she laughed at herself, picking up her keys as they headed down the stairs.

"Last time we went on an ice cream run, we got in a car crash."

"Figured we'd just walk, Doose's is open."

"Probably safest."

"Wait." Rory told him, stepping behind the counter and picking up a spoon. "So I don't have to wait until I get back."

"I'm way past questioning any of this."

"You have no sense of adventure left," she teased as they left the diner.

"There's a lot left, since I'm actually joining in," Jess pointed out. "So, a few times a week, huh?"

"Yeah. It's like this thought gets in my head, and nothing short of eating whatever it is will get rid of it. I've been pretty lucky, I suppose, it's not been anything crazy, but it's still annoying."

"Didn't occur to you to call Lorelai or something?"

Rory sighed and shook her head. "It's not that she wouldn't come, or send Luke but…"

"Ok. Sorry." He felt stupid at having brought it up.

"Don't, you didn't do anything," Rory turned to face him and smiled.

"But…?" he pushed slightly, trying to get to the shadow that had been hanging just at the margin of her all evening.

"It's just been a bad few weeks, you know?"

"The 'he got married' thing?"

A sad smile flashed across her face as she opened the door to the store, waving at the till girl. "Ok, two tubs of Rocky Road, one cookie dough, just in case, can you grab me some cherries?"

"Thought it was supposed to be pickles." He picked up the jar of cherries anyway, holding the basket towards her so she could put the ice cream in. "Anything else?"

"Pringles. A lot of Pringles."

"What kind?"

"Cheese."

"Swear, if they go anywhere near the ice cream, I'm leaving."

"Please, like that's the weirdest thing I've eaten. Mom and I made burritos out of pizza and spring rolls the other week. Her idea, but she blamed me. More please." She looked at the Pringles he'd added to the cart.

Jess added two more tubes. "Now?"

"That's ok. You want anything?"

He shook his head. "See, this is why you don't have any money to see me meditate," he reminded her as they lined the food on the belt, waiting for it to be scanned. A couple of minutes later, he picked up the bag again, handing her the tub of ice cream as they headed out of the store.

"Thank you." Rory wasted no time in starting to eat the ice cream as they walked back. "It's just… I don't know." She sighed again. "I think I'm doing ok with everything most of the time and then I cry over a Libertines album and hey! Turns out, not really ok."

"I know Pete Doherty's got that effect on people but…" he waited for her to explain.

"I was looking for music for the kid the other day, and she's into The Jam and The Clash and why are so many British bands called 'the something' anyway?" She paused for a moment, then started again without waiting for an answer. "But I stumbled on the new Libertines from a couple of years ago and I'd... missed it. Like, I had no idea it even existed, completely off my radar, and maybe I was never their biggest fan, but I was into them for a while and then Logan didn't like them, so I stopped listening to them too and here I am," she laughed, humorlessly. "I've been in London a lot these past few years, I can't believe I missed it. I feel stupid."

"For what, being in love with the guy?" It stung him to say it out loud, and he wished for the beer bottle he'd left in her apartment to take some of it away.

"That's the thing, 'cause I'm not." She sounded so certain it nearly did the job of the absent beer. "I think I'm just angry because I want to be happy for him and I can't be right now." She stopped for a moment, and her voice softened as she absentmindedly dug the spoon into the ice cream. "I don't want to be this person, the one who's always bitter with her ex. And it's not even him, it's his choice to stay out of this kid's life, and then I feel like I pushed him to stay out and, let's face it, it will be so much easier without him here the way things are and definitely without his family but then I crave ice cream at three in the morning and I'm angry again. It's a vicious circle. Soundtracked by The Libertines."

"If it helps, pound for pound, blow for blow? Not even close to the most messed up."

"You're not my therapist," Rory pointed out. "Despite all the venting I do when you're here."

"It's all good," he reassured her.

"Thank you." She smiled at him, then unlocked the diner door. "I'll get over this thing eventually."

"Stubborn your way out?" He smirked, because it sounded so much like her that it made the thing that he wasn't calling love tug at him.

"I'll be too busy to do obsess about it in a couple of months." Rory shrugged. "You have time to finish the movie?"

"Yeah. And I want to see how much of this you eat," he held up the bag, following her up the stairs.

"Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown."


	17. Lullaby

**A/N: Sorry, guys, life is currently super busy and I'm not optimistic about it getting any better. I appreciate the patience. Thank you for the reviews 3.**

* * *

 **Lullaby**

Rory looked up at the crunch of boots on gravel and the edge that had been inching in all morning disappeared.

"Voluntary exile or do you need a bicorne and an army to march on Europe with?" Jess asked, sitting next to her on the steps to Lorelai's house.

"I tried to pick up the duster," she sighed.

"Rookie mistake."

"Yeah, I keep forgetting I'm an invalid. Swear to God…" she mumbled the second part under her breath. "Good morning?"

"Nearly killed my mother and TJ, then Doula and I went to the bridge to read. They'll be over as soon as she's changed. I'm ok with my outfit, although she did question this three times."

"I think you look nice."

"You do, huh?" Jess teased back and she rolled her eyes, hoping the very slight flush she felt rise to her cheeks wasn't noticeable.

"Oh, grow up." She laughed it off. "Read anything good?"

" _The Witches_. Doula insisted, as it's the best book she's ever read apparently."

"She's got excellent taste."

"Speaking of, I have a book query," Jess asked. "Liz's decided she's pretty much leaving all the book stuff to me, and Doula really wants to read Harry Potter. Are they ok?"

"First few are probably ok, but I might wait a while for the last couple. Maybe give them to her one at a time and see how she does?" She suggested with a shrug. "Not really sure that was too helpful."

"It was." He smiled.

"Do I get to hear about that near double murder in return?"

"Volunteered to make breakfast, spiraled from there."

"You're going to make me work for everything today?"

"I was scrambling the eggs wrong," he shrugged with a smirk.

"I did always think so when you made breakfast at Luke's," she chuckled. "Speaking of cooking, I remembered you still owe me demonstration of these skills of yours."

"Browbeating me into something isn't really synonymous with owing."

"No idea what you mean."

"Remind me next time I'm in town," Jess conceded, because it never really made any difference what excuse he found to spend time with her anymore.

"And Not Lorelai will be in college by then?"

"Figured I'd come by after she's born, see what all the fuss is about." Another shrug, looking at her. "And if you finally find a name."

"I kinda like Paige today."

"Was _Charmed_ on last night?"

"No." She looked at him, then, more softly. "Yes."

"Not the worst Halliwell sister."

"Tell my mom that, she's been complaining about it all morning," Rory laughed. "I had to remind her _Firefly_ was cancelled after one season, so if she wants to talk omens, maybe that's not a great one for the new inn."

"So the exile was less about the dusting?"

"Half and half," she admitted with a smile.

"Follow up question?"

Rory nodded, waiting.

"Why are you sitting on the steps?"

"I was sitting there," she tilted her head towards the couch "but it's such a nice day out, I wanted to be out in the sun, and I figured that if I tried to grab a chair from the house, Luke would move the couch to the lawn or something just as unnecessary and… here I am."

"He probably would have," Jess agreed.

"Of course, at no point during the brilliant thought process earlier did I consider that I'll have to stand up again and I'm getting really hungry, but it's the sort of hungry where I don't know what I want, plus, while it's nice, my feet are getting really warm and shoes are enough of a challenge without a sunburn and I really should get up. Except…" she sighed, looking down at her stomach.

Jess smirked and stood up in one swift move.

"Show off!" she called.

"Come on," he held out a hand to her. She raised her left one to it and took it.

There was the echo of memories she thought she had left behind long before that came through their touch, warm and cozy and familiar but before she could think about it, she was standing and he'd let go, or maybe she had, and her hand felt like it had lost something intrinsically its own for a moment. She clenched it in a fist and it was all gone, again, but the now ever present hitch tugged harder in her chest.

"You ok?"

"Yeah. Sorry. Kid didn't like that move," she laughed it off. "I'm so hungry." She started up the steps, opening the door to the house. "Can I come in?" She called to Lorelai in the living room. "I bring guests."

"No! Kitchen!" Lorelai shouted back with a hint of panic in her voice.

"You know what would make cleaning go faster?" Rory asked, as Jess closed the door behind them.

"You going away!" Lorelai shouted again.

"Nice try," Jess smirking, making his way to the kitchen. "Hey," he greeted Luke, who turned around.

"What are you doing here?"

"Oh, you're not wanted either," Rory laughed.

"I meant…" Luke tried to explain.

"Forget it," Jess waved it away. "Need a hand?"

"Can you peel those?" He pointed at some potatoes.

"I win," he smirked, looking at Rory.

"Not really sure this is winning," she pointed out in reply. "Can I have a bread roll?" She asked Luke and he nodded.

"How about…"

"Bread roll's good." She reached into the bowl he held out to her and took one. "Thank you."

"You sure I can't get you anything else?"

"Sure. I'll leave you two to the cooking stuff, see if I am actually allowed anywhere in the house or if I have to sit outside some more." She poured some coffee in a cup. "Bribery's got to get me somewhere, right?"

"Worth a try." Jess said.

* * *

Later that day.

"Done," Jess walked into the living room to Lorelai's house, wiping his hands on his jeans.

"Geez," Rory clutched at her chest dramatically. "You're still here."

"Wow, that small town charm," he smirked. "I got stuck doing the dishes." He tilted his head towards the kitchen. "Don't worry, I'll be out now."

"I didn't mean it that way," Rory tried to defend herself.

"Sounded like it to me," Lorelai piped up too. "I tried to teach her manners," she told Jess. "I blame New York."

"Only so much you can do," he replied in mock sympathy.

"Oh, you two are hilarious." Rory pouted. "I mean because Liz and everyone already left, not that I don't want you here."

"So you're saying you did want him to stay then?" Lorelai teased her again, raising her eyebrows.

"Remember when you used to hate each other? Wasn't that fun?" Rory laughed too. "You heading back to town?" She asked Jess and he nodded.

"My car's at the diner."

"I'll come with you, that way Mom can go to the new inn and keep thinking I don't know she spends every waking moment there." She lobbed the mocking back at her mother, standing up. "Come by after you're done, I'll give you some decaf while you whine about the lampshades being one shade too light for the rooms," she told Lorelai again.

"You're awful to your poor mother!" Lorelai called from the couch. "And I'm not going to the inn!"

"See you later! Let's go," she turned to Jess and he raised his hand in the air as a quick goodbye before following Rory out the front door.

"How's construction going? She looked like she was going to be sick when I asked about it."

"Getting there. They delivered the doors this week, just in time too, because Luke looked about ready to singlehandedly build her new ones for the entire place just so she'd stop complaining." She smiled. "I think it's going to be ok. They're booked pretty solid for the summer already."

"That usually a good sign."

"Try telling Mom that, maybe she'll listen to you."

"Does she listen to anyone?"

"Not even herself," Rory laughed softly. "Feeling good about having survived the weekend?" She asked him.

"With only minor homicidal ideations." He nodded.

"And without even being mocked for looking about to blush when Doula was raving about you to the twins. Oh, wait."

"Blushing, huh?"

"Looked like it from where I was standing."

"Looked like I was trying really hard not to teach them some words they skipped on _Sesame Street_ where I was," Jess countered.

"Right." She drew out the word. "Would it soothe your ego if I told you I bought that?"

"My ego's fine. You're the one who needs glasses."

"Ok, ok," Rory conceded defeat. "You're good with them, though."

"Don't know how Lane does it, I was ready for a drink after five seconds of their babbling."

"Pretty sure you've got to do it if they're yours. Doubt there's a return policy," she stroked her stomach gently, looking at it. "Have you ever thought about it?"

"Kids?" He snorted with derision. "Please."

"What, it's not that ridiculous."

"It is," Jess argued back.

"Why?"

"Just is." He shrugged his shoulders.

"You'd be good at it," Rory said after a few seconds of musing over the thought in silence.

"Right." He added an eye roll to the words. "You decide that from my never having changed a diaper or from _Enter Sandman_ being the only lullaby I know?"

"I don't think those are the essentials." She smiled, watching him.

"I'd be crap at it." He shook his head. "And look, there's my car, so we can stop talking about it now," he pointed to his car at the end of the street.

"Fine." Rory conceded. "You could have just asked."

"Like you'd ever drop anything."

"I'm working on it."

Jess just smiled with another small shake of his head.

"You never told me what you think of Paige," she pointed out as she remembered.

"I like it."

"And there's no Paiges who throw themselves in front of a train or anything like that?"

" _Charmed_ is all I've got."

"I'll keep it on the shortlist then." She told him as they got to his car. "There, you've reached freedom. Unless you need to pack your bags before you leave."

"Just had a change of clothes, dropped here this morning. Call you tomorrow?" He asked, digging out his car keys.

"I've got some stuff to do at the paper, I'll be home after seven."

"Taylor's getting his money's worth, huh?"

"Trying to figure out what's going to happen to the whole thing after the baby's here. It's all up in the air right now," she explained. "You need to go before I start ranting again."

"Yeah." Jess ran a hand through his hair, taking a moment longer than he had to before he opened the car door. Still looking at her. "See you in a few months."

"Drive safe." She waited for him to get in the car, then raised a hand as a goodbye to his slight nod before he drove off.

And the quiet hum of the engine leaving brought with it a sudden gush of pain, ferociously strong, breaking the bough she'd been so carefully teetering on for months. She fell inwards, catching on hitches and skipped beats and aches until she landed in the middle of everything she'd been pretending wasn't there.


	18. Good and right

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews!**

* * *

 **Good and right**

"Enter, stage right," Rory announced with an amused flourish in her voice as she held the door open for Lorelai to walk in the apartment.

"The Firefly is a disaster. The beds are wrong, the stairs creak and you said something about the lamps earlier and now I can't get it out of my head, even though I spent three months trying to find enough of those damn lamps for every room! It's going to crash and burn and I'm going to be homeless!" She ranted before stopping for a breath.

"And…" Rory muttered under her breath as she waited for the second wind.

"Why did I do this?"

"Here we go," she whispered.

"I had a good life!" Lorelai continued without noticing Rory had said anything. "I had an inn and a house and a dog, did I need to do this to myself? No, I didn't! There's something in the Bible about not wanting too much, isn't there? It's all going to blow up in my face! Where do I find a stick and one of those spotted handkerchiefs? Hah, doesn't matter, I'm not going to have anything left to keep in it after the bank is done taking it all away!"

"The Bible?" Rory raised her eyebrows.

"It's Easter, seemed appropriate."

"You'll have to ask Lane about it."

"It's going to be a disaster."

"It's going to be fine," Rory set her hand on her mother's arm gently, smiling, then walked to the kitchen. "Coffee? I made regular, just for you."

"Rory…" she whined loudly, throwing herself in one of the chairs with a dramatic oomph. "It's all a mess."

"You can have this place back when it all crashes, so you won't be homeless." Rory rolled her eyes again, setting a cup in front of her mother.

"Oh, no, I'm bankrupting Luke as well. Better find yourself a backup plan, kiddo, 'cause you're not going to have this for too long."

"Then it's a good thing grandma's loaded," Rory smiled and sat across her mother at the kitchen table.

Lorelai buried her face in her hands and sighed. "I'm going crazy."

"Going?"

"Hey!" She protested, faking upset. "See if I let you share my cardboard box when we're all homeless."

"I've got enough boxes of my own, thanks," Rory waved a hand dismissively to the stack of boxes piling up in the baby's room.

"What, you decided to unpack everything in one evening?"

She had decided she had to do something, anything, to keep busy because otherwise she wouldn't have been able to stop her heart from breaking inside her chest, over and over again. "I was bored."

"Wasn't the plan keep them at the house unless needed?"

Rory shrugged. "I picked some stuff out, mostly clothes, sorted through the rest."

"Wow, and I thought I'd had a busy few hours."

Another shrug.

"Everything ok? 'Cause those boxes had been there for weeks…?" Lorelai asked, softening her voice to cover her concern.

"Yeah." A little too sharply, and she noticed her mother noticing.

"Uh-huh. Is it…?" Lorelai stopped for a breath, then, when Rory hadn't said anything she continued. "Jess? You were fine when you left the house, did something happen?"

"No. Everything's golden." Her chest heaved with pain again and she nearly clicked her heels under the table to give herself the slimmest of chances at disappearing.

"Did he do something?" Always dogged, her mother.

"He's fine, we're fine, everything's fine."

"And you're not looking at me why?"

She made an effort, colossal for something that required nothing but an inch of upward motion, and looked at her mother's face. "Happy now?"

"Rory…"

"Nothing happened. We're fine." Again, and maybe enough times it would feel true.

"Are _you_ fine?" She watched her, and it made the 'yes' choke in her throat.

"I'm…" Rory looked down again, running her curled fingers over her bump. "I'll get there."

"Talk to me."

"Look, my feet hurt and I'm too tired to do the whole leaving in a huff thing right now, so either you're going to have to drop it or I'm going to have to stick my fingers in my ears until you do. I'm stupid, I'll get over it, end of story."

Lorelai let out a breath, laden with frustration and concern, and nodded. "Ok."

"Thank you." Her phone vibrated on the table. ' _Got back ok. Lorelai there yet?'_ it would have been good, everything she was feeling, were it not so engulfed in red, hot pain. "How do you know?" She was so quiet she wasn't sure Lorelai could even hear.

"Know what?"

"What the right thing to do is." She looked down at the bump and sighed. "'Cause I've read the books and not that I don't think _Mommywood_ has me set up for life here, but how do you know what to do so you don't end up screwing your kid up."

"You don't."

"Very reassuring." Rory smiled.

"Everyone screws up, Rory." Lorelai told her, reaching over the table and putting her hand reassuringly on her daughter's. "And you can do everything right and still end up with a kid who's a mess. Mom and dad? They didn't plan for me."

"Mom…" Always vehemently ready to defend her mother, even from herself.

"Let me finish. My parents gave me everything, and maybe they were screwed up too, but no one else I knew who got the same life turned out the way I did. And the sex-ed class my school forced slightly too late on me was very clear about this one, you should have ended up the same way I did at sixteen, with no hope of even a high school degree in sight. So you don't know what's right and what's wrong. You do what you can and hope for the best. Actually, that and everything Tori Spelling says, do the exact opposite."

Rory smiled softly. "That doesn't seem good enough. It's like I'm Indiana Jones and I need to figure out what to spell, but there's a million floor tiles around me."

"Most people don't end up in prison, no matter how much their mothers can't spell." She tried to cheer her up. "So where's Jess in all of this?" She let go of her hand and watched her daughter chew her lip.

"He's good. He's so good." She couldn't help the smile.

"But?" Lorelai asked the one left hanging unsaid at the end of Rory's words.

"Good and right aren't the same thing right now." She shrugged and looked down at her bump. "Bad time to fall in love with someone, isn't it?" She'd been batting the l-word around her head all evening and there was a sourness that came with it, lingering in her mouth.

"That's for you and him to figure out."

"I'm not going to tell him." Hoping Lorelai would understand.

"Why?"

It felt like the room had changed again, and the earlier irritation came back with it. "Really? I'm pregnant, that's why."

"I think Jess knows."

"That's not…" she let out a breath and stood up, needing space and air and for it all to be simple. "It's not what I meant and you know it."

"I know you have a problem that you can't solve on your own and trying to do so is stupid," Lorelai retorted, standing up too.

"Oh, right, I keep forgetting, you've decided we're somehow great for each other," she snorted, shaking her head. "How do you think this works out? The three of us together? Even if that wasn't bordering on absurd, he lives two hundred miles away. What do I do, how do I juggle that? Here, kid, you get a part-time guy who's not your dad, and your dad, he's even less part-time, so it's all going great for you on that front. And don't get too attached, you know, 'cause this guy and your mom have screwed this up before."

"When you were seventeen? That's the card you're playing?"

"Yes, it is!" Rory raised her voice in frustration. "But I've got a full deck here, so take your pick if that's not enough, which one do you want? The distance I've used, and the screwed up before thing, so let's look at the rest." She counted down on her fingers, bending thumb and index to her palm. "I don't know what I'm feeling, because until he left, I was fine, and hey, I cried over the paint color the other week, so before I set myself on fire, I should check if there isn't already one going." She folded the middle finger down too. "The kid, that's a big one, I'll give her the next two, though I think it should be more, but let's lowball it anyway." She made a fist with her hand, lowering them both again. "Do you want to save me the trouble and just say it's me for all the others, or should I go through them one by one?"

"You?" Taken aback.

"Do you really not remember what happened when I told you I was pregnant? You didn't cry tears of joy, did you?" She shook her head, not waiting for an answer. "I have nothing that I got for myself. You left at sixteen and somehow managed to buy a house before you were thirty, but I live in Luke's apartment and I can't even afford to pay him rent. The job thing? I don't think Yale are going to put me in the success stories any time soon on that one, do you? Use any yardstick and I'm not a prize here and this kid is stuck with me. It's a crap deal she's got, but I'm gonna try, right, 'cause that's the only thing I can do, try to give her everything I can, and this is the only way I know how."

"Rory, come on, you're not…"

"Tell me this is the life you had in mind for me when you first put me in a Harvard sweater. Because where I'm standing, it feels like I took a left turn at Albuquerque or something."

"I wanted you to be happy," Lorelai smiled, taking a small step closer to her daughter like she was a frightened baby bird. "That's the only thing I ever wanted for you."

"You didn't have that attitude when I dropped out of Yale."

"Wow, suddenly it's all about me," she joked to defuse the situation, feeling defensive nonetheless. "I thought it was the wrong choice. You were giving up something good because you were scared. See if that seems familiar."

"I'm not giving up anything!" Rory raised her voice slightly, frustration getting to her. "Actually, you know what? It's worse than that, because you seem to gloss over the very real chance that Jess doesn't actually want any of this. Leaves us with the option where I lose a friend who's been…" the safest port in the worst storm, but that thought made her eyes well up. She pressed the heels of her hands into her cheekbones for a moment. "There is no happy ending here. I'm taking the easy way out because it's easy when everything else is hard. Please understand that."

Lorelai inhaled, audibly, and her body relaxed with the next out breath. "Ok."

"Ok." Rory agreed.

The silence felt unsettlingly more like an interlude than an end. She tried to brush it off.

"Wanna watch something?" Rory asked, out of energy to figure out anything else.

"Did you eat dinner?" Her mother asked as she nodded.

"No."

"Pizza?"

"Yeah."

They sat on the couch and Lorelai picked up the phone, texting in an order quickly. "Pete should have never given me his number."

"He'd go out of business without you." Rory smiled, turning the TV on and flicking through the channels.

"What's wrong with the paint color?" Lorelai remembered, looking at the walls with her brow furrow in confusion.

"Hm?"

"You said it made you cry?"

"Oh, right. It's called _Letters to Juliet_."

"I know, I helped you pick it."

" _Romeo and Juliet_ didn't seem like the best omen." She shrugged.

"Pregnancy's weird." Lorelai smiled, putting her arm comfortingly over her daughter's shoulders. "You're going to be just fine."

"I hope so."

"I know so." She tightened the grip. "Oh, _Coyote Ugly_ 's on."

"Sold."


	19. Love Bites

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews.**

* * *

 **Love Bites**

Monday.

It was like something had found its way under her skin, pressing tightly right under the surface, buzzing in rhythm with her phone on the table. Almost funny how much it felt like kissing him had, the same faint electricity.

She pressed her hand into her bump, looking for comfort, as she counted in her head until the ringing stopped.

Almost funny.

* * *

Wednesday.

Rory sat on her mother's couch, looking around the room. "Luke? He wasn't at the diner when I left."

"Liz's house for dinner."

She raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"I was going to go to the inn," Lorelai added as an answer. Only half lie, because she had been planning on it, but she also desperately wanted to be around if her daughter needed her. "How are you?"

"Been better." Rory forced a smile. "I keep almost calling him, and I'm pretty sure it's all habit, 'cause it's been months since we went for more than a day without talking, and I want to tell him about stuff that happened at school or whatever, but then… I don't know, it just doesn't feel like hearing his voice would be a good idea."

"So you haven't talked to him at all?"

"Sent him a text saying it was crazy." She shrugged, twisting the hem of her dress between two fingers to avoid her mother's eyes. "It's not like it's a lie. The Gazette _is_ crazy, I still have no idea who'll take over, and school's as usual, plus I want to get some of the stuff for the Master's organized before the baby gets here so I don't have to scramble after all of it then, so…" it all came out in one breath.

"Mhm."

"And the run-through of the inn next week, baby shower… I figure I've got a few weeks in hand here and by then it will be ok."

"And if it's not?"

"It will be."

"Not that I don't appreciate the positive attitude, but what if it's not?"

"Then I'll have a baby to use as an excuse until it is," Rory told her mother with a sigh.

"Wasn't the whole point of you not telling him how you feel that you didn't want to lose a friend? 'Cause you're not talking to him at all, how's that any better?"

"Really?" She let out a frustrated breath. "It's completely different."

"How?"

"Didn't we finish this fight in Sunday?"

"It's not a fight," Lorelai carefully softened her tone again.

"From where I'm sitting, it's sounding like you want to argue until I change my mind. How's that not a fight?"

"Rory, come on," her turn to sigh. "I'm just trying to get it." She put her hand on her daughter's arm gently.

"There's a chance here," Rory practically whispered. "Maybe in a couple of weeks, maybe when the baby's here, maybe Christmas for all I know, but there's something to pick up eventually. But if I tell him…? That all changes. It all gets so complicated then and I…"

"Ok." She set her arms over Rory's shoulders, giving her a hug. "It's ok."

* * *

Sunday.

Lorelai absentmindedly pushed a bit of pancake around on her plate at the kitchen table.

"Ok, what's wrong?" Luke asked, setting down his spoon. "Is it the stairs again? They don't creak, I've checked…"

"Hm?"

"Lorelai?" An instant switch from confusion to concern.

"Sorry. What did you say?"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She shook her head. "Or nothing I can talk about."

"Is it Rory?"

"Yeah." She swallowed a mouthful of coffee. "You'd think at some point this whole worrying about your kid stuff got easier, but turns out, nope."

"Jess asked about her."

"Oh."

"Did something happen there?"

"No." Lorelai shook her head, hiding behind the coffee cup again.

"Lorelai…?"

"I can't talk about it. I really, really want to, but I can't, so I'm going to finish my breakfast and go worry about the creaky stairs."

"They're fine," Luke told her again.

"It's really making me sympathize with my mother, Luke!" She whined after a second of silence. "Do you know how much I want to meddle?"

"Stay out of it."

"I will, I will. But…"

"Lorelai."

"Fine. But I still think she's being stupid," she grumbled under her breath. "And that third step definitely creaks."

* * *

"Rory?" Lorelai's eyebrows shot up in confusion as she walked into the new inn a couple of hours later.

"I can't be home right now," she explained, picking up a thin stack of books and setting them on the shelf. "You always seem to find something to do when you're here, except I didn't know what actually needs doing and what would annoy you, and you mentioned something about wanting to arrange the books so…" she let out a breath. "I've washed and folded every item of clothing I or this baby own already, and then did it again. I had to do something."

Lorelai bit the inside of her lip to stop from saying something and just nodded. "Can you work on a list of books we should put in the rooms when you're done with that? I think it'd be nice to have a handful around."

"Any guidance?"

"You're the book nerd."

"I'll have it done today." She nodded before going back to the shelves.

* * *

Tuesday.

It was a new habit and Rory wasn't sure if it hurt more than it helped, but she was sure it was the only thing making her feel like she wasn't about to suffocate.

She typed the message. Boring, mundane.

Third period kid finally handed in some homework he tried in at school. Taylor went ballistic when she told him she might have to stop the paper. Kirk's been calling, trying to take over. She might just let him.

She finished typing, then carefully backed out of it.

Starting to lose count of all the messages she hadn't sent.

* * *

Wednesday.

Jess checked his phone again. He knew it hadn't been ringing, but it was compulsive force of habit after ten days. Like trying to quit smoking had been, and having to fight not to reach in his pocked for a cigarette every time he walked out the door. And man, was he ever aching for one.

He settled for another drink instead, refilling his glass for the third time that day. Seven o'clock. Outside, the weird lull between rush hour and the college kids out drinking was in full swing, if a lull could ever be in swing, and he was starting to feel too fucking old and tired for everything.

The door to his office opened without a knock and Matthew came in, sitting across from him.

"Evening, buttercup."

"I'm busy." Jess held a stack of papers that he'd been working on.

"Pour me a drink," he ignored him, staring pointedly at Jess' glass.

"What are you doing here?" Jess asked as he took out a glass. He'd learned some things in twelve years, and one of them was there was no winning sometimes.

"Not that your charming mood hasn't been such a secret, but thought I'd stick around and see what this current self-destructive streak you've picked up is about. You back smoking yet?"

"No." Jess shook his head, holding the half full glass for his friend to take.

"Well, there's that." Matthew nodded. "So? Something's gone wrong again or is a different Buzzcocks song altogether?"

"There's ten guys with actual degrees in a five block radius if I wanted to talk to someone." He felt himself tense up in his chair, hand tightening on his own glass.

"The day you decide to get actual therapy, Chris and I will happily pitch in. Until then…?" Matthew stopped for a breath. "Look, I've got all night, Livie's worried too and I'm not gonna be allowed back home if I don't at least try, so you're going to have to either say something or give me a black eye."

"I'll tell you which one's more tempting."

"God, you're a stubborn idiot." He rolled his eyes in frustration. "Fine. We'll get drunk." He finished his glass in one mouthful, then refilled it without asking. "I've got a teething toddler at home, dumbass, even you're the better choice."

Jess shrugged, staring out the window again, still clutching the glass.

"I'm gonna say some stuff. And you can just ignore me, 'cause it's the sort of thing people say when they've had a couple of drinks, especially when it's been a while since they've had any drinks at all." He didn't wait, just downed the glass in one. "There, now we're officially in more than one territory. And I really need to stop doing that, what the hell, my mouth is on fire." He complained as he set the empty glass down.

"Matt."

"Shut up, I'm drunk." The other man answered. "Everyone's scared they're not going to be good enough at being a parent. I mean, maybe I'm way off base here, maybe you've just decided alcoholism is the best life choice available. But if I'm right?" He stopped for a breath and his shoulders lifted and fell with it. "There hasn't been a day yet since Ruth became a thing, and I'm talking the fucking second she was a second line on a pregnancy test, where I didn't feel like I wasn't going to screw her up. I talked to my dad about it, and dude's been excellent, but he's still worried he's going to fuck me up now, so … it's a thing. Again, maybe I might as well be in a different stadium, right? But if it's about the woman I think it's about? It's normal."

Jess stared at his drink, then used it to wash the sharpness in his throat. "You don't get it." he said after a pause.

"Why?"

"Because you don't have a choice." His turn to finish the drink in a single swig, then refill. This time nearing the brink. "You screw up Ruth and it sucks, but she's your kid and a lot of people have bad parents and that's just fucking bad luck. Character building. But if I get mixed in and screw up, there's a lot of what if this kid had been better off without me."

"And what if it won't be?"

"You don't know Rory. She's more than enough for any kid." There was actual, unexpected hell at even saying her name.

"Here's a thought, but you're not as shit as you want to think you are either." Matthew shrugged again. "How much are you regretting not going for that kicking my ass thing?"

"Don't know, you gonna break into song next?"

"Not if you get me another drink."

Jess nodded and refilled the other glass.

"We need to stop this thing where we keep booze in the office," Matthew sighed, picking it up. "What are you gonna do?"

"Think about it."

"Well, that's better than I expected." He accepted. "Wanna know something?"

Jess gave a quick nod.

"It's not gonna be just Ruth for me to screw up much longer."

He smiled, the anger shifting away, and held the glass up to his friend. "Congrats."

"Couple of idiots, both of us." Matthew clinked it.


	20. Out of Nowhere

**A/N: Oh, two chapters in one week, look at me go. Seriously though, I've been writing some form of this chapter for at least a year and I've still got nearly 20 hours on this version of the document alone. Hope you all enjoy and thank you for the reviews.**

* * *

 **Out of Nowhere**

Friday afternoon.

The thought kept crawling back. Every time he wasn't actively batting it away, it was there, unrelenting, maddening with its sliver of _'what if'_ , because if there was one thing he was sure of, it was that optimism didn't belong when it came to her.

But the night before's unwashed glass mocked him from the corner of the desk and maybe optimism wasn't right, but liver damage wasn't going to solve it either.

He picked up his car keys.

* * *

A few hours later.

Rory watched her mother's expression change from polite smile to exasperated eye roll as soon as Taylor was finished going over his list of complaints about the new inn.

"Why did I invite him again?" Lorelai whined, walking to her daughter.

"Because out of the hundred things he finds not to his standards, one is actually something you should consider."

"You're cute if you think it was only a hundred." She smiled. "How was dinner?"

"Dinner was amazing. Everything is amazing," she reassured her mother. "Did you eat any of it?"

"Grabbed some of Luke's plate," Lorelai shrugged. "Ok, so everyone's gone to their rooms and no one's dead yet, not even Taylor."

"Almost everyone. Grandma was looking at books," Rory tilted her head towards the dining room. "It's going great. Relax."

"Maybe Sunday. Or after the first real guests. End of summer. Next year."

"I'll come visit you when they finally lock you up."

"Are you heading to bed?"

"I was going to walk by the diner first, I left my book there."

"And you can't find another book in here?"

"It's a really good book," Rory shrugged. "I need to text Lane to see how the twins are doing, since she's banned me from going near their place until they figure out if it's contagious, and phone signal and…" she rambled for a second before stopping abruptly. "I could use the air too," she admitted, a sad smile flashing on her face.

"Still sucks?"

"Still sucks." She confirmed. "I won't be long."

"You sure you don't want company?"

"Yeah."

Lorelai rubbed her daughter's arm gently, then pointed a finger at her bump. "Take care of your mom, kiddo."

"See you in a bit." Rory waved.

Lorelai watched her leave, then went to the dining room to find her mother. "Hey, mom."

"Lorelai."

"Everything ok?"

"Yes, thank you." The older woman stopped for a moment. "It's a beautiful inn."

"Thank you."

"Your father would have been very proud. I'm very proud," she added.

"I wish he was here," Lorelai admitted, wrapping her arms around herself. "Mom? Are you…?"

"I miss him."

"Me too." She told her mother. "You want some tea or something?"

"I think I should head to bed," Emily said, checking her watch. "Tomorrow?"

"We will definitely find time tomorrow," Lorelai agreed.

* * *

Rory eased into the pain as she walked back to her place. Two weeks of its company and she was nearly used to it, the constant clawing at every inch of her. She opened the door to the diner, noticing the light in the kitchen.

"Hey, Caesar."

"We're closed." The voice that came from the back at the same time as her greeting felt like a blow to her legs, so strong that the she wasn't sure how she had stayed upright. Before she could will herself to move, Jess walked out of the kitchen, holding a cleaning rag in his hands. "Sorry. Thought you were…" he stopped. "Told him I'd close." To give himself something to do while he figured out a move that wasn't waiting on the steps outside for her all night.

"Oh. Ok." Like it somehow made sense. Too focused on breathing to question his presence.

"How's the inn?"

"Everyone seems to like it so far."

"Good," Jess nodded. "Haven't heard from you in a while." He stated, and his voice sounded just like it had the moment before, nothing that she could read in it, no matter how much she tried to find anything. Thankful that all the anger she had expected him to feel wasn't there.

"Yeah."

"You're ok?"

"I'm ok." Laughably far from it.

"Ok." Another nod, moving the rag from one hand to the other. She heard the breath that came before he spoke again. "Did I do something?" This time, so full of hurt it brought on a pain that made whatever she had been feeling look like the cheapest substitute.

"No, Jess. You did… it's not you." Kicking herself because everything she wanted to say seemed stuck.

"Then?"

"It's complicated."

"I've got a while." He crossed his arms, and just like that, the hurt was gone and an edge of pissed-off-edness took its place.

"I don't." Rory heard the irritation creeping into her own voice.

"I'm in town all weekend, maybe you can find five minutes." He shook his head slightly. "I'm sorry. I didn't come to fight."

"Why did you come then?"

Jess looked at her for too long before shrugging. "I missed you."

The world flooded in on her. "I need to…"

"Don't say leave."

She had been about to, but the heartbreak on his face broke her too, and it was one too many emotions at once, indescribable, indecipherable. "I…" she tried again, catching a quiver sneaking its way into it. "I missed you too."

He took a step closer to her. Realized he was still holding the cleaning rag and threw it on the counter. "Why did you stop calling?"

"Because it hurts. Talking to you. Turns out, not talking to you hurts too, so how's that for no-win, right?" Rory stepped back to keep the distance between them.

"If both option suck, why is not talking to me the one you're going for?"

"So you're not here to fight, just to bust me?" And just like that, the fight came back to both of them.

"No, I'm here 'cause you asked me to tell you if I wanted an out, so, I don't know, I didn't think I'd end up having to check with Luke if you're dead or in hospital or something."

"And that's not busting me? What do you want? I'm sorry, ok, I should have told you. Better? Now can I go?"

"Not until you give me a good reason for it."

"What's it going to change?"

"I don't know, probably nothing, but at least I won't spend the next six months hitting my head against a brick wall while I try to figure it out."

"I'm love with you, Jess, that's why." It burst out, laden with frustration. "Is that good enough for you? Because thinking about you actually, physically makes it hard to breathe and I don't have the energy to figure out how to deal with it when I'm barely dealing with everything else in my life. Got to tell you, these last few months it's like I'm the clown circus trying to juggle the crap balls I had while life kept throwing more and more and I know they're all my own doing, but, come on, I could use a break, but instead it's decided what I really needed was unrequited love too. Hah, good one. So I took the easy way out and now you're here and I've got to start back from scratch and that's just… I don't know," she pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes, breathing back tears. "There we go. You didn't do anything." Her voice softened again as she looked at him. "You have been so much more than I could have asked for, and if we stuck to that book for gratitude thing, I'd have to get you the Yale Library or something, but right now? I need to not talk to you until it stops hurting." She had no strength left to move, so she just tilted her head down, waiting.

"I had a speech," Jess told her after a second. "Not written down or anything, but I actually spent the drive thinking about what I wanted to say, how's that for new and improved, huh? Should have stuck to my old M.O., we wouldn't be here." He moved closer again and this time, she stayed put. "When I said I missed you, I wasn't talking about the movie watching thing."

"Jess…" she felt his hand on her arm, fingertips gently touching her elbow. So close, she could feel his breath on her skin.

"You're wrong about the unrequited thing."

Rory raised her free hand, resting it on his cheek for a moment then traced it down to his jaw. Selfish, wanting to feel ok for the briefest of moments. "That makes it worse."

"You're going to have to explain that one too."

He tensed up under her hand. She stepped back, lowering it to her elbow where his had been. "Look at me, Jess. I'm having a baby."

"That explains the decorating choices upstairs. I _was_ wondering."

"And flippant commentary aside, you don't get to act like it means nothing." She felt the irritation come back and embraced it, the safest of everything she was feeling. "I can't shove this kid in the closet every time you're here."

"God, just…" he ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "Look, before you decide what I want or don't want or what we should do, how about you spend five seconds actually talking to me? 'Cause unless I've had a stroke or something, I don't remember saying I didn't know you were pregnant, or that I never wanted to be in a mile radius of this kid or something." He stepped back too, shaking his head.

"So what, you've got some way where it all works out for you, me, and this baby? Come on, you live two hundred miles away. That's not…" she stopped, because that felt like the worst strawman she could possibly have clung to. Because he had been there, more than anyone. "She's not your kid."

"I know."

"It matters."

"Know that too." Jess sighed.

"I just… I want her to be safe." She pressed a hand into her bump. "You and me? We've screwed up before. Maybe it's not fair to bring it up, 'cause it was fifteen years ago and we were kids, but even without it, the odds are stacked against us. And if I let you into her life, if I let anyone, it could hurt her and I can't stand thinking she's going to have to take the fall for my choices."

"When's it going to be ok then? To date someone? Five years? Ten? Fifteen?"

"I don't know." Rory shook her head, still looking down at her rounded abdomen.

"I grew up with the new guy every week, Rory, I know what it's like when that one goes wrong. Trust me, it's the last thing I want here." He moved closer to her again, in the never-ending shift of their bodies to make space for their anger. "But if you get to pull the past card, then I do too, because we're here again fifteen years later and I'm done. I want to be with you."

She bit her lip, the faint metallic taste of blood in her mouth.

"I'm gonna do everything to keep her safe," Jess whispered, moving his hand up. She gave a quick nod, and he let it rest in her hair. It amused him how very much he had missed it without knowing. "Ask me upstairs. We'll have coffee, watch a movie. Promise I won't try anything funny."

"I'm only supposed to be here picking up my book, Mom must two seconds away from calling the police." She smiled, leaning into his hand. "I wish I had a crystal ball."

"I know."

She tried to weigh the decision, but the only thing she could focus on was the feel of his fingers, moving ever so slowly in her hair. "Jess…?"

"Yeah?"

"You wanna walk me back to the Firefly?"

"I need to grab a key from Liz anyway. I tried to stay at a hotel once and she still brings it up." He smiled and inched closer. "I love you."

Rory tilted her head up slightly, pressing her lips to his. "I love you too." Whispered against his mouth.

He kissed her again.


	21. Frankie Says

**A/N: Sorry, folks, exams in September, 65% of med school ranking, so time's short. I appreciate your patience so much. All the love.**

* * *

 **Frankie Says**

"So, tell me something," Rory asked as they started walking back to the inn, her hand nestled in his. "What was the plan if I hadn't come back to the diner tonight?"

"Find a boom box, stand outside the inn. You know, the classics."

"Basically stalking."

"It's only stalking if you're not into me. Ask any rom-com." He smirked and kissed her cheek.

"A boom box sounds harder to find than phone signal."

"And what, you were going to answer if I'd called?" Light teasing in his voice.

"Point taken," Rory smiled before pausing for a moment and looking at him. "Jess…? I should have talked to you."

"Took me a while too, so maybe it's not all on you." He squeezed her hand.

"Don't get in the way of a good self-flagellation."

"Sorry," another smirk. "You wanna split the week, I'll take Monday to Wednesday, you can have Thursday to Saturday and we'll alternate Sundays?"

"Sounds like a plan," she chuckled. "And speaking of plans…?" Rory stopped as they turned towards the Firefly. "Do you mind if we…?" She looked down at their hands. "I mean, it's not like anyone's going to be awake, other than Mom, and she's got to know, or that I want it to be a secret, but I'd rather tell Grandma alone…?"

"Hiding me, huh?"

"Just until tomorrow. Unless you don't want people to know, 'cause I didn't check, I just assumed…"

"You need to relax," Jess kissed her, cradling her face in his free hand.

"I'll try and find an excuse so you're not stuck having lunch with her or something."

"Thank you."

"Come on." Rory kissed him one more time before letting go of his hand with a disgruntled hrmpf. "Just in case someone came back downstairs?"

"Relax," he told her again.

"Ok, Frankie." She opened the door to the inn.

"Oh, my God, you're finally back! Do you know how worried I've…" Lorelai started rambling when she saw Rory, then stopped as soon as she noticed Jess behind her and clapped a hand to her mouth.

"It's going well," Rory smiled, looking over her shoulder at Jess.

"Got to say, this might be the first time I've seen her speechless."

"But… you… then… you…!" Lorelai mumbled, barely intelligible over her hand. "What happened?" She finally composed herself and dropped it again.

"Details later," Rory told her mother. "Can you get Liz first? Jess needs a key to their place."

"Yeah, I can call her room, give me…" She started, heading behind the desk before stopping. "Actually, had an idea, we have a room available, Lane and Zach barely put their bags down before Mrs. Kim called about the twins, you can have it, Jess, unless you're not looking for somewhere to stay and need a key for something else 'cause then I can call…?"

"You sure?"

"You have to promise to give feedback," Lorelai replied with a nod, holding out a key. "Breakfast's six thirty 'til nine thirty, come down whenever, Sookie's making waffles."

"Thought it was pancakes?" Rory raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"It's both now. I barely talked her out of having on omelet station. So?" She stretched out the key towards him and Jess took it.

"Thanks."

"Room seven, top of the stairs, turn left. Notebook and pen on the nightstand. I'm having a contest to see if anyone can out-nitpick Taylor."

"He's in the hundreds," Rory told him with a smile. "Go, I'll see you tomorrow," she encouraged, touching his arm briefly.

"Ok," he nodded. "Night."

"Night."

"Night, Jess," Lorelai called after him as he started up the stairs, then, as soon as he was at the top, she turned back to Rory. "So?"

"Is telling you I'm tired going to make a difference?" Light teasing in her voice.

"Then talk fast, you're a Gilmore."

"Ok, so I got to the diner…" She started recounting the evening's events.

"Wow," Lorelai let out the breath she'd been holding practically the entire time. "You were gone for less than an hour."

"Yeah."

"Wow," she repeated. "So…"

"I have covered everything that happened. Whatever you're about to ask, I don't have answers."

"Can you find answers?"

"I assume Jess and I will talk at some point this weekend again, yes."

"And if I give you a list of things I'd like to know?"

"I'm going to bed." Rory kissed her mother's cheek quickly before starting up the stairs. "Night, mom."

"Can I at least tell Luke?"

"Can I stop you?"

"There's a good chance he'll be asleep, I think you're probably good until the morning."

"It's fine, tell him," Rory told her.

"Rory?"

"Hm?" She asked, a couple of steps up already.

"I'm so happy for you!"

"Thank you."

* * *

"Did Lorelai come by here too to tell you I'm a hero?" Jess asked Rory the next morning, sitting at her table in the dining room.

"You are?"

"Oh, yeah. I've swooped in and saved the day when Lane and Zach had to go," he rolled his eyes. "The run through was practically a disaster with an empty room."

"I _was_ getting really worried about the inn's future success, I've got to admit."

"Not as worried as she apparently was."

"She is very happy you're here," Rory told him.

"So she approves?"

"She's been trying to get me to call you the whole time. I was kind of expecting her to pull some kind of stunt to get you here."

"I'm going to have to rob a liquor store or something, I don't think I can deal with this."

"Can you hit the Soda Shoppe instead, half my paycheck's going on this red velvet fudge Taylor found?"

"Deal."

"Had I known there was the possibility of grand theft fudge, I'd have called you two weeks ago." Rory smiled.

"How are the twins?"

"Lane called, they're back to their normal selves this morning, so she's thinking it was some kind of bug, but still keeping them home for the weekend, just in case." She filled him in. "Any plans for today?"

"I've been claimed by Doula for book shopping."

"You've been downstairs for a minute!"

"No, I've been here for fifteen, trapped by my mother somewhere over there." He waved a hand towards reception.

"You poor thing."

"Could be worse, they could have been on their way to breakfast instead of back upstairs. Though I hear that omelet station your mother talked Sookie out of is good."

"Really good, actually. As are the pancakes."

"Noted," Jess nodded. "Have you thought about how you're telling Emily?"

"We're going shopping and then stopping for lunch, figured I'd tell her then. I'm hoping that since she took Not Lorelai's existence so well, you're not really going to be a problem."

"What happened to Paige?"

"Feels too much of a pun for a bookworm's kid. I'm keeping it on the reserve list though."

"Don't call her anything, say it's a social experiment."

"Also on the list," Rory laughed. "Aren't you hungry?"

"Too scared to make eye-contact with anyone."

"You know there's room service, right?"

"Yes, but then I wouldn't have gotten to see you," Jess pointed out. "And on that note." He tilted his head towards the door that Emily had just walked through, mid-conversation with Lorelai. "Have fun."

"You too." She waved, watching him as he left, swinging via the coffee machine to avoid the two women.

* * *

"Wow." Jess chuckled as she walked into the diner a while later, holding about five shopping bags in each hand.

"Don't start."

"Are there any baby clothes left?"

"In the entire state of Connecticut? No." She answered after pretending to mull it over for a second.

"You want some coffee?"

"I want a normal family. And coffee," Rory nodded, sitting at the table nearest the counter. "She also made me go with her to her realtor's office, which took all of three seconds to turn from looking for a house for her move back to 'isn't this one lovely, that room would be perfect for the baby'." She continued when he sat down and slid a cup of coffee towards her.

"When do you move in?"

"I stood my ground. Hope so, anyway. There's going to be a set of house keys on the doorstep on Monday, isn't there?"

"Did it at least have a nice living room?"

"Not bad, and the bedroom had a walk-in closet," Rory said with a small laugh. "Are you having a good day?"

"Got better a couple of minutes ago."

"You know, I'm under strict instructions not to carry these bags upstairs by myself, lest I wilt or something. Do you mind giving me a hand?"

"As you wish." Jess stood up and grabbed the bags, waiting for her. "Where do you want these?" He asked when they got to the apartment and Rory shrugged.

"Anywhere." She set her coffee down on the table. "Do you want something to drink? I can go get you a cup of decaf or something, I've got orange juice…?"

"I'm ok," he nodded, setting the bags down next to the small dresser. "You've changed things around."

"I really want to move the crib closer to my bed, but I'm pretty sure I'm never going to hear the end of it from Luke if I don't ask him to do it. I moved the footrest for the glider on my own and he's still complaining." She rambled, then took a breath. "I've been trying to keep busy," she admitted.

"Drinking's been working for me, though I suspect CPS would frown on it."

"More heads, more to love," Rory laughed.

"How'd it go with Emily?"

"Really good. She sounds happy. I don't think she'll grill you too much."

"Good." Jess nodded.

"I did figure that all three of us in the same room as everyone in town would be weird, so maybe we can wait until tomorrow? Is that ok?"

"Geez," he rolled his eyes, walking to her and giving her a quick kiss.

"Frankie, come on," she smiled. "I don't want you to actually think that I'm hiding it."

"I haven't told Liz yet, we're even. What, you think she'd keep her mouth shut?" He answered to her inquiring look.

"We're both wusses then?"

"We're not making more work for ourselves than we have to."

"I'll take that," Rory nodded, tangling her hands in his. "I'm worried someone's going to ask something, and I'm going to be left there, not knowing what to say, 'cause Mom was going to last night and…"

"Like?"

"Like what happens after…?" She looked down at her bump, lip pulled between her teeth. "Everything's barely normal now, it definitely won't be in two months' time."

"Better learn how to change a diaper then, huh?"

"Jess…"

"You better be unspeech-ed out, 'cause it's time for round two," he smirked. "Way I figure, I've got two choices here. I can either throw it all in or I can hedge my bets for a while, and the first one might go wrong, but the second's a lot more likely to." He stopped for a breath. "You just have to let me be here, that's it."

"That's a good speech. Not the Gettysburg address, but pretty good," Rory smiled before kissing him. "Get yourself a beard and funny hat and you might be up there as far as I'm concerned."

"Noted."

She rested her forehead against his, still smiling. "All in." The smile grew bigger, mouth an inch from his as she whispered it before kissing him again. "Ok."

"So, you've got a book I can borrow so I can figure out which end of the baby goes up?"

"Got a bunch, you can pick."

"Good." Jess nodded. "Come on, your coffee's getting cold. You can tell me about your new place."

"Don't even joke," she laughed, sitting down, a hand still holding his.


	22. Out

**A/N: Thanks for the patience and the lovely reviews. It's been the months from hell around here, time's been short and it's not really looking up yet.**

* * *

 **Out**

"Morning," Rory greeted Jess the next day as he opened the door to his room. She held out a cup of coffee towards him. "Here."

Standing aside, he let her in, taking the cup and setting it down on a table. "This is unexpected."

"I've been claimed again, grandma and I are going to go look at houses, so I figured coffee would soften the blow? It usually does for me, anyway." She shrugged, giving him a quick kiss. "Plus, I have to go soon, so if I didn't come by, I wouldn't get to see you at all until we get back, and who knows when that will be so…" a second shrug-kiss combo. "I'm sorry."

"Didn't you make these plans weeks ago?"

"Yeah, but I don't get to see you that much either. Those future telling abilities, telling you, need to work on them."

"Next week, we won't tell anyone I'm town." He suggested with a smirk.

"Next week?" Rory's eyebrows shot up, face lighting up with excitement.

"What, you thought I was going to want to wait longer to see you again?"

"I hadn't…" flustered slightly, she kissed him. "It's a plan. And speaking of, what are yours for the day?"

"Liz figured out I didn't actually spend any time with her yesterday, so she roped me into lunch."

"Oh no."

"Which means first I have to find a store that is actually open and get something instead of trying to figure out what to make out of seaweed and carrots or whatever she's decided the main food groups are this week."

"Wow, you sound a lot like Luke sometimes."

"Isn't it time for you to go?"

"No, not yet," Rory pretended to think it over. "Try not kill her or TJ, 'cause else the whole next week thing's not happening, and you got my hopes up here."

"I'll give my best shot." He placed a quick kiss on her lips. "How soon _do_ you have to go?"

"Bored of me already?"

"Just checking."

"I've got ten minutes, maybe fifteen. Mom's pretending she forgot about the whole thing so she doesn't have to join."

"Who's gonna be in charge of the inn for the rest of the day?"

"It's actually Michel's first full day on his own. He only looked about to cry five times over breakfast."

"Impressive. Taylor didn't break him?"

"He's tried, but Michel's hanging in there."

"Give him 'till lunch?"

"I figured ten at most," she smiled. "Mom's going to text me when the hide and seek ends, so… think we can think of something to do until then?"

"Maybe," Jess tucked his hand in her hair before kissing her.

* * *

"I am going to kill her," Lorelai muttered between clenched teeth as she and Rory walked into the diner. "Lorelai this, Lorelai that, Lorelai don't sulk, Lorelai why is there steam coming out of yours ears! I'm surprised she didn't decide I had to stop breathing by the end of this preview to hell."

"Ok, she's gone now."

"But she's gonna buy that stupid house and she's going to be so close again!"

"It's half an hour's drive. Forty five minutes with traffic," she tried to throw some sanity at her mother. "That's plenty far."

"The moon wouldn't be plenty far away, let alone a thirty minute drive!"

"I give up," Rory sighed. "Where's Luke, he can take you away from me."

"You love me," Lorelai retorted.

"Love and being able to stand you… such different emotions." Noticing Jess at the counter, she smiled. "Give me a sec."

"No, don't leave me, I'm not done whining."

Rory ignored her with an eye roll and walked up to Jess. "Hey."

"Hi." He stopped typing. "Good trip?"

"Grandma found a house. What are you up to?" She tried to look at his screen but he closed it.

"No."

"Oh, come on, we can't keep doing this."

"It's not done."

"You are impossible. I can't believe dating you doesn't come with early access perks."

"You gonna make me turn it on you?"

"At least I'm making progress on my book, whereas you've been saying soon since November. At least try to give me an estimate."

"It's closer to done now than it was in November."

"That's great, I'll put it in my diary." Rory laughed. "How was lunch?"

Jess shrugged. "I told Liz."

"And?"

"She's known for months it was going to happen. Tarot cards," he added to her inquiring look.

"Wow, I didn't think the Universe would concern itself with us. Does it have any predictions on how it's all going to go?"

"She can't tell me. If we know, it might be prior knowledge instead of letting the supreme forces do their thing," he rolled his eyes.

"Like the time travel paradox but with tarot cards," Rory said, amused. "And Doula? 'Cause I get the feeling her approval's the one I actually need."

"You like Harriet, you're in."

"Good. Nothing stopping us now from…?" she waved a hand towards the diner.

"Self-preservation?" Jess suggested.

"Tell you what, if we wait until you're about to leave, then I'm the only one who'll have to field enquiries."

"That's generous. Feels like it'll come with dibs on movie choice until the end of time."

"That, and grandma has made me specifically tell you that we must all have a meal together next time and I cannot get away with making you some vague excuses," Rory rolled her eyes. "It's like ninety percent guilt."

"Then can I at least get veto on the movies?"

"Veto and dinner?" She pretended to mull it over. "Ok, I'll go for that."

"Deal," Jess nodded.

"Mom and I were going to have coffee and pie, you want to join? I'm on keeping her busy duty, so she doesn't go back to the inn." She looked over her shoulder at her mother, who was anxiously drumming her hands on the table.

Another quick nod. "I'll get you both coffee, Lorelai looks like she's going to explode soon."

"And pie. Don't forget the pie."

"Wouldn't dare." He smirked, standing up and heading behind the counter.

"You know what I realized as I was watching Rory and Jess, the revival?" Lorelai said as soon as Rory had sat down at the table.

"What is it?"

"It occurred to me I was so excited the other night when you told me I missed getting in the three 'ha's and six 'I told you so's I was due."

"So you want to gloat," Rory rolled her eyes.

"Gloat is such an ugly word. I like to think of it more as rejoicing in how right I was."

"Oh, yeah, much better," she mumbled under her breath.

"If this isn't proof you should always listen to me…"

"Do you even need me here for this?"

"Why, do you want to go hang out with Jess?"

"Yeah, that's why I sat down here, 'cause I need the workout standing up provides. And he's joining us."

"Aw, good," Lorelai gushed.

"That sounded far too happy."

"I promise, best behavior," she crossed a finger over her heart. "Can I at least call him son?"

"Mom!" Rory warned, with a quick shake of the head.

"Fine, but only because I need you to buffer Emily," Lorelai replied just as Jess showed up with three cups.

"Got kicked out again." He shrugged and sat down too, setting them down on the table.

"We wouldn't need to resort to this if Luke wasn't so slow," Lorelai raised her voice so her husband, who was nearly at their table could hear her.

"Yeah, and I wouldn't have to resort to taking care of actual paying customers first if you ever paid your bill."

"But the baby, Luke! The baby wants pie!"

"Leave me and Not Lorelai out of this," Rory held her hands up, amused.

"You say things like that and I feel like I've taught you nothing." Lorelai whined again. "Luke, can I have a donut to tide me over and then some apple pie?"

"Tide you over until what?"

"Until you bring over the pie. It's a whole ten feet to the counter, and you'd have to lift the lid on the pie case, find a plate… I'll just wilt if you don't get me a donut first."

"Rory?" The man asked, rolling his eyes at his wife.

"Cherry for me, please. No donut."

"Jess?"

"I'll stick to the coffee."

"How often do you think he regrets having married me?" Lorelai chuckled as the man headed to the counter before returning and handing her a donut. "Jess." She turned to face the man when Luke had left again. "I tried to get my mother to change her mind."

"She actually did."

"Appreciate it."

"Just remember, if you start drinking early, it'll make dinner so much more tolerable. I like to start at last three hours before, but five is optimal."

"She's not wrong." Rory agreed.

"I'll keep it in mind."

"And now that that's out of the way."

"Oh, no!" Rory sighed. "Don't do it. Run!" she turned to Jess.

"What's up?"

"She's been banned from talking about…"

"Have you heard about the Bananarama reunion?"

"Luke and I are fed up so she's looking for victims."

"You're being dramatic." Lorelai rolled her eyes.

"You called me at 3 in the morning to tell me!" she complained. "I thought someone was dead!"

"Not my fault Paul Anka woke me up. I think he knew. Told you he's psychic!"

"Maybe him and Liz's tarot cards can get together and tell me the lottery numbers, it'll pay for Not Lorelai's college."

"Pie and pie." Luke showed up, setting two plates down. "Enjoy."

"Like you mean it, or there's no tip!" Lorelai called after him. "And now that starvation is no longer an immediate threat, let's go back to the important things."

"Still time to run."

"Picture this. It's 1988…" she ignored her daughter and started talking again.

* * *

"Sorry," Rory mumbled as soon as Lorelai left a while later.

"It's ok."

"You can have some movie dibs back for putting up with it."

"Get me that in writing." Jess smirked. "I should head out too," he said, checking his watch.

"I'll call you later." She nodded.

"Feels like that's the one I should have asked for in writing."

"One day, I'll live this down," Rory smiled. "Get out," she set her hand in his gently, looking down at them for a second.

He looked at their hands too. "So if I kiss you now…?"

"Definitely make it obvious." She leaned closer and gave him a quick kiss. "That wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be."

"Huh."

"I didn't…" she flushed, laughing. "You know what I meant." She squeezed his hand. "Now run. I'll fill you in on the aftermath tonight."

"Talk to you later," Jess smirked and stood up after one more kiss.

"Did you have to do that here?" Luke complained, walking up to the table as soon as Jess had left.

"It's ok, I'll happily sit here and field enquiries."

"You wanna go hide?" the man asked and she looked around at the anxious faces, looking a second away from pouncing.

"So bad."

"Go upstairs," he told her with a dismissive wave. "Let me know what you want for dinner."

"You're the best, Luke," Rory smiled. "Thank you."

"Go."

She nodded a quick thanks before making her way up the stairs, before anyone had had a chance to come up to her.


	23. Weird

**A/N: Sorry, guys. Real life continues to be on fire. I appreciate all of you and your patience so much. Thanks.**

* * *

 **Weird**

Friday afternoon.

Rory walked into the diner on her way home from school, to the usual rustle of nosy whispers. She scanned the room, looking for her mother or Luke, when she spotted Jess in front of the coffee machine. She walked up, stopping on the other side of the counter.

"Hey," she smiled when he turned around, holding a now full cup of coffee.

"Hey," Jess smiled too. "Coffee?"

"So is this going to be a thing now? You being here on Fridays when I get in?" She teased, nodding at the same time.

"At least you knew I'd be here this week," he pointed out in reply, pulling a cup from behind the counter. "Regular or decaf?"

"Regular. I've been saving it so I'm actually awake to spend time with you this evening."

"I feel honored." Jess picked the coffee pot and filled her cup, then slid it closer.

"You still haven't said why you're so early. Didn't think you'd get here before eight."

"Matthew's back in the office, he was pissing me off, thought I'd get a jump on traffic and get out before I punched him." He explained with a shrug.

"What'd he do?"

"Long story."

"Right, that's going to work in making me less intrigued."

"He asked about my weekend plans, then played _Hate to Say I Told You So_ for the rest of the day."

Rory raised her eyebrows, waiting for more.

"He's been suggesting I should tell you the stuff from last week for a while."

"I'm glad you listened," she said with a happy grin. "Did you play _Die, Alright_ in return?"

"And encourage him?"

"Good point," Rory agreed. "So, the counter…?"

"Just here for coffee and a donut."

"Luke is going to kill you one of these days."

"I'm doing him a favor," he pointed out. "Donut?"

"Yes, please."

Jess picked up a couple of donuts and set them down on a plate, getting a disapproving sigh from Luke in return. "See, he's fine," Jess smirked.

"You wanna get out before he kicks you out?"

"Oh yeah," Jess nodded, heading out from behind the counter. "Table?"

"Upstairs?" Rory countered his suggestion.

"I'll bring the coffee."

"I'll bring the donuts," she told him, picking up the plate.

She set it down on the kitchen table in her apartment a moment later, feeling suddenly at a slight pleasant unease with the newness of the situation. Jess followed and put the two cups down on the table.

"Impressive," Rory smiled.

"I picked up some things working in the diner."

"Yeah, you used to do a lot of work," she teased.

"Everyone whispering downstairs…?"

"Welcome to the better part of my week."

"I'm sorry." Jess took a step closer.

"I've just been ignoring them," she shrugged, moving closer too, her hand touching his. "Babette and Miss Patty are very happy though, they keep telling me what a great thing it is."

"Well, good, 'cause otherwise we'd have had to break up."

"Our only choice," Rory agreed with a solemn nod. His hand went into her hair and she leaned into it slightly. "Hi."

"You said that already," he pointed out.

"No, I said 'hey'. Completely different," she countered.

"Right," Jess rolled his eyes before inching in closer.

"It's going to get less weird eventually, right? Town?"

"Someone will jaywalk, that's gonna distract them."

"I hope so," Rory smiled. She close the small gap between them and kissed him, tangling a hand in his free one. "Not going to say hi again."

"Kind of counts though, telling me you're not."

"Definitely doesn't."

Jess kissed her again, moving his hand to the back of her neck.

"Is that your attempt at making me be quiet?"

"It's not working very well."

"Just have to try harder."

* * *

"Ok, the logistics of this are super complicated," Rory let out a loud breath as they tried to shuffle around the couch to find enough room.

"Yeah."

"Can we…?" she moved back a bit and Jess sat up on the couch.

"You ok?"

"Yeah, I just…" another breath. "I want to say something 'cause we're not seventeen anymore and I think it needs to be said."

"Look, I'm just here for the pizza," Jess said.

"I know. It's not you, and this just now?" she waved a hand over the couch. "I was having fun." She moved closer and kissed his shoulder. "But I don't want to lay down a decree of no sex until way after this baby gets here without at least giving you an explanation, ok?"

He nodded, waiting.

"Thing is," Rory started again and her voice lost all hints of lightness "the way I've been feeling lately? Not great." She shifted her gaze down to her feet. "Everything hurts, my back and feet are killing me and Not Lorelai's picked up this habit of shoving herself in my lungs until I can't breathe and I'm just so, so uncomfortable all the time. I want to be with you, but I also don't want to think about how much everything sucks on my end, you know?" she sighed, feeling his hand cover hers. "And then there's the way I look too. When I think of her, none of it matters, because I'd give everything for her, but when I think of you in the way I want to think of you, and you seeing me, then it gets uncomfortable in other ways and it's all so…" she stopped, her cheeks flushed with shame at having said it out loud.

Jess moved closer and kissed her hair, softly. "Rory…"

"Can we… not talk about it?" she turned to look at him again. "Ever?" She attempted to lighten the mood. "It's temporary, all of this, at least I hope the second part of that is, so can we wait it out?"

"Is that what you want?"

"I want to be two people, one who's having this baby and one who's me, but that doesn't seem like it's going to happen." She joked again. "I really want to be with you," she admitted.

"Feeling's mutual." Jess kissed her.

"You don't think I'm gross?"

"I think you're hot," he smirked.

Rory cupped his face in her hand before pressing a kiss to his mouth. "And now that all of that's out of the way, you want to stay over? I don't know if Liz's waiting for you to crash at hers, so there's an out if you want it, plus I wake up every five minutes and take up most of the bed with my giant pillow, so you really should think this carefully, 'cause I'm not kidding, the thing is massive, but the offer's on the table, if you want to take it."

"How big are we talking?" Jess asked.

"Very."

"I'll live."

"And you know this means you're on hook for making breakfast?"

"You live above a diner."

"Yeah, but Luke gets mad when I wear pajamas downstairs."

"Do you have any food in this place that I can turn into breakfast?"

"Ha," Rory snorted.

"I'll go pick up my bag from the car and stop by Doose's on the way back."

"Oh, do you think you can pick up stuff for dinner tomorrow too? You owe me dinner."

"The one you browbeat me into agreeing to cook?"

"Welcome to your new life."

"Do you know what you want?"

"There's choices?" Her face lit up with excitement. "What skill level are we talking here, from mom to Sookie?"

"I can follow a recipe."

"And not burn the place down?"

"Hasn't happened yet," Jess shook his head.

"How about we get Al's tomorrow while I think about it and you can make dinner next time you're in town, because I assumed you could make two things and that would be it, but if I've got to decide, it's going to take time?"

"Works for me."

"You're still on hook for breakfast though."

"I know." He stood up, picking up his jacket. "I'll get some stuff, you can figure out tomorrow morning what you want."

"Can I come with you, I think I want something from the store, but I don't know… oh, grape soda! Maybe," she changed her mind, then immediately followed with "No, definitely grape soda, but something else too, I just can't figure out what while I'm here, I'll see at the store."

"Are you going to put cherries in it again?" He made a disgusted face as he held his hand out to help her up.

"No, I'm over the cherries thing," Rory reassured him. "Thank you." She kissed his cheek quickly.

"You know I'm good for foot rubs too, ok?" Jess asked with a smile as they started walking towards the door.

"Breakfast and foot rubs? Pretty sweet deal."

"I can also juggle." He smirked, opening the front door.

* * *

Jess woke up the next morning, rolling out of bed to follow the sound of a keyboard.

"Morning." He leaned down and kissed the top of her head.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" Rory pushed her headphones down.

"No."

"I got into the habit of getting up early to get some writing in before I have to go to work," she explained with a shrug. "Feels like the only time I get most days."

"I'll make coffee and get out of your hair."

"No, don't. It's nice having you here," she told him, watching as he started on the coffee. "Weird, but nice."

"Weird, huh?"

"Just… I don't know. You know. You're not usually here."

Jess smirked. "I got it."

"I'll try not to talk before coffee in the future," she smiled too. "About that breakfast thing…?"

"Do I need to grab an order pad from Luke first?"

"Just pancakes."

"Ok." He nodded quickly before starting to pull everything he needed out of the kitchen cabinets. "Do you need to go to the paper today?"

"Took the weekend off," she shook her head.

"That worried Babette would attack me?"

"A valid concern, actually, she's already asked me about your intentions." She rolled her eyes. "No, I just…" she took a deep breath, biting her lip. "Last week? I don't want it to be just you."

Jess raised an eyebrow, waiting for an explanation.

"You're driving here and you borrowed that dumb book and it's all… it's wonderful, you're being wonderful, and I don't want you to have to put all the chips in while I take them all, ok? So I figured take the weekend off…"

"Ask me to stay over?" He filled in the sentence with a smile and Rory nodded.

"Yeah."

He set the bowl down on the counter and walked to her, cupping her face in both hands before kissing her.

"I really want this to work," she whispered against his mouth.

"Me too." He kissed her again before going back to the pancakes. "What'd you tell Babette?"

"That we eloped in high school and we've finally decided to make it public, so your intentions are pretty clear."

"I hope she sends us a nice wedding gift."

"Yeah, there's a time limit on those, I think."

"Damn it," Jess smirked. "How many pancakes?"

"What a good question."

"A lot?" He tried to guess.

"Sounds like a good start."


	24. It's a plan

**A/N: I'm back! No more 12 hour shifts for a while, so here's for more frequent updates, the universe willing. Thank you all for your patience and the lovely reviews.**

* * *

A month later.

"I'm moving," Rory growled in frustration as she sat down on the couch in her mother's living room. "I can't deal with this place anymore!"

"Aw, what happened?" Lorelai asked.

"Am I really sure I still have four weeks to go before I have this baby? 'Cause I look really big!" she said in a mock shocked voice. "Three people! Three separate people!"

"Ouch," she winced in sympathy. "I think you look gorgeous," she reassured her daughter, rubbing her arm.

"I'd have hit them, but I really don't want to have this baby in jail. And I'm too tired to move," Rory sighed.

"You know what would make you feel better?"

"Hm?"

"Spending time with grandma!" Lorelai announced to an annoyed look from her daughter.

"You cannot force me to take her every time she's in town."

"But you like her!" she whined.

"But Jess is going to be in town, and I'm trying to keep up this thing where they don't meet until Baby No Name is here and then I have an easy distraction," Rory countered.

"I am so proud of you for using your child like that. You still have to deal with her though," she pointed out.

"Ugh, fine, I'll try and juggle something."

"You're the best!" She gushed, hugging Rory quickly. "She's only here until Saturday afternoon, it can't be too bad."

"Says the woman who'd break her own legs to avoid it."

"Yes, and see, that's why I need you to be in charge, 'cause otherwise I'd be of no use to you when this baby comes."

"I'm only agreeing because I'm going to need you for babysitting," she reminded her mother.

"Speaking of baby, I think you need to reconsider Paige."

"What brought that thought on?"

" _The Prince and Me_ was on TV, and any woman who gives up an actual prince to finish medical school is a worthy role model for a young girl."

"Isn't she living with him in Denmark in the sequel?"

"Made-for-TV lacking Julia Stiles doesn't count," she argued.

"Good point," Rory agreed. "And I never un-considered it, I just can't decide. I was set on Charlotte for three days, 'cause I know she's a spider, but she's a pretty cool spider and she saved Wilbur, but then I remembered _Sex and The City_ and that's ruined it. Then it was Martha, but there's the no naming after anyone who kills themselves rule, but does it really count if she was old?"

"I'm getting really glad I put no thought into naming you, you're making it sound really stressful," she joked. "Speaking of baby?"

"Yes?"

"I have a question. Well, Luke had a question, and then I figured I should ask you, 'cause you should know so here I am, asking you," she took a breath to stop herself from rambling. "Do you have a plan?"

"I plan on never again letting you have however much coffee you've had today, 'cause I think we've finally found too much."

"About the baby," she tried to clarify.

"She's a bit young to have decided what college she should go to," Rory joked, rubbing her bump. "Though I did buy her a Yale onesie the other day, here's hoping."

"I raised a comedienne."

"If you actually asked me something that made sense, I might have a better answer."

"Where are you going when you take her home from hospital?"

"Is this how you tell me Luke's kicking me out?"

"Luke would probably kick himself out before he as much as thinks about kicking you out," Lorelai pointed out. "No, he just asked if you were going to come stay with us, and I didn't know."

"Oh," Rory shrugged. "I don't know. You want me to?"

"If you want to. Might be easier if you have someone to bring you food, help with the baby… whatever. Not that takeaway isn't an acceptable way of life, and Luke, he's downstairs a lot, so he could bring the food, but maybe not quite as close as I could here, but you're not going to starve, I know. Unless Jess is staying for a while, then you've got that covered, but you can both stay here too, we'll get a bigger bed or something, we can definitely work it out, although that probably won't work, there's no way to fit a different bed in your room, not with a crib too, but you can squish in the small one, right, or you can come here after he goes back?" Lorelai rambled, enthusiasm taking over at the prospect of having her daughter moving back in.

"I haven't…" she realized, forcing a deep breath. "Haven't thought about it much. Probably should have, 'cause as of tomorrow, we're down to counting in days instead of months here, I know, I just… haven't, 'cause it's scary so…"

"Hey, kid, I'm not judging, I pretty much pretended you weren't real until I couldn't fit into any clothes anymore, so…" she shrugged. "Take some time, think about it, talk with Jess, then let me know."

"What do you think? 'Cause the last thing you and Luke need is me and a screaming newborn."

"I think that I want to help," Lorelai told her, words laced with conviction. "Plus baby cuddles, you know how much easier it would be to steal baby cuddles with you two here?"

"And Luke…?"

"You've met him, right? He's practically turned the garage into Santa's workshop building stuff for No Name, I think he'll be fine."

"Yeah, that's not the same as wanting to be woken up every hour by a cranky baby."

"And yet, he brought it up, so maybe let's not worry too much." She put a hand on Rory's arm gently. "Think about it."

"You know what would give me more time to think about it?"

"I'm not taking grandma back."

"Damn it," Rory smiled.

* * *

A couple of nights later.

Jess woke up in the middle of the night, with a disgruntled sigh when he found the other side of the bed empty. He walked to the kitchen, finding Rory sitting at the table with her laptop.

"It's three in the morning," he grumbled, kissing the top of her head. "You getting a head start on the lack of sleep?"

Rory pushed her headphones down. "Sorry. Just…"

"What's up?" He sat in the chair next to hers, angled to face her.

"Can't sleep," she shrugged in reply.

"Yeah, I hear tables aren't really the best for that."

"I was not sleeping in bed up until half an hour ago, thank you very much," Rory smiled. "Lot on my mind."

"What can I do?" Jess reached over and set a hand on her knee.

"There was a pro/con list in the making," she tilted her head towards the laptop screen.

"About?"

"Mom asked if I wanted to go stay with them when the baby's here."

"Can't be the first time the thought crossed your mind."

"No, it's not," she admitted with a smile. "But it's all… so, so close and I should decide something, right, do they even let you take a baby home if you don't name her?"

"We'll pull a Die Hard and get her out," he smirked. "What's really bugging you?"

"Do I tell him?" She tightened her grip on his hand, looking for comfort. "I don't know who's got the ball, did he throw it back to me with that email or is he still juggling it, or is that damn ball stuck halfway in the Atlantic, waiting to float to one of us, eventually?"

Jess rubbed small circles with his thumb in the skin of her hand. "You tell him."

"It's not like he doesn't know that a baby's the usual end result of pregnancy," she argued.

"Rory."

"I know. I've got to do it."

"She might need a kidney someday. At least the family fortune," he smirked. "You tell him 'cause she doesn't deserve the bitterness."

"I know," she nodded. "I guess part of me doesn't want to mess up his life and the other part just wishes that he'll stay away because it feels easier that way, so I'm looking for a way to be a coward and not feel guilty about it," she laughed. "But you're right, I know, and I will do it," she told him. "And I feel better now that I've run it past you."

"What, you thought I'd kick his ass if he stepped foot in Stars Hollow?"

"Well, no, but…"

"But?" Jess cocked his eyebrows.

"Oh, come, it's a valid worry," she defended.

"I think he's a jackass, that's not gonna change, but I'm here and if he decides to show up too…" he shrugged. "We'll work on it. Or stay out of each other's way. Can probably make it until at least her high school graduation without having to be in the same room."

"You are…" she whispered, biting her lip, then motioned for him to move closer so she could kiss him. "You are amazing."

"Can we go back to bed now?"

"I like that you think that was the end of the list." Rory grinned, kissing him. "But we can talk about it tomorrow."

"I plan on breaking a leg to get out of lunch with Emily so make sure it's before that."

"Not a bad idea." She sighed herself to standing. "I'm sorry I couldn't get you out of it."

"Bound to happen."

"Damn Miss Patty piping up and saying Liz and TJ weren't in town this weekend."

Jess waited for her to settle in bed, sitting on the edge of the bed, before lying down next to her. "You sure you don't want to make up a medical emergency?"

"If she calls me more than twice in the morning, I'll risk the jinx."

"Deal." He kissed the top of her head.

"You're included in Mom's offer, by the way," she remembered. "It's a small room, so between the two of us and a crib, it would be a bit of a clown car situation but think about it. I don't expect you to not go to work or anything, just when you're in town at the weekends. I'm not going to move in forever either, so you can stay here if you want and come by whenever."

"You've got to learn to let me get a word in."

"You should have heard Mom, I don't think she took a breath the whole time she was talking."

"I was gonna stick around for a few days. Work's not too busy."

"That's a lie."

"That's the perk of being able to do most of it anywhere I am," he kissed her head again. "Go on, get some sleep."

"That's a great joke, you've got any more?" she grumbled, trying to get comfortable. "I'm excited. Terrified too, but really excited to meet her. And get some sleep without the constant kicking," she added with a smile. "Night."

"Night."

* * *

"Jess." Emily fixed him as soon as they had handed their orders in to the waiter the next afternoon. "I'm very pleased we have finally found some time to meet," she offered a pleasant smile. "The way my granddaughter has been avoiding this, I assume she fears for your safety."

"Grandma…" Rory piped up.

"Don't worry, dear, one meal together that ended in disaster is as much as I'd like to experience."

"Least I don't have a black eye this time," he acknowledged, trying to lighten the mood.

"What an excellent start," Emily answered with fake enthusiasm. "Last time we were allowed to speak, you mentioned you own a company, is that right?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"You promised," Rory threatened lightly.

"I am simply curious, Rory." She addressed her granddaughter, before returning to Jess. "Can you tell me some more about it, lest I be accused of interrogating you."

"Uh, we publish books, sell mostly to independent bookstores, decent online presence too. Not a lot to say."

"East Coast?"

"Started that way, we've got a decent network across all states now," he shrugged.

"That's quite an achievement for a small publisher." She smiled.

"Took a lot of work."

"I can imagine. Any thoughts on where you're headed from here?"

"You should have asked him to bring a five-year business plan," Rory teased her grandmother.

"Maybe if I had received any notice that he was going to be in town?" Emily jabbed right back. "Rory tells me you wrote a couple of books too,"

"Mhm."

"May I ask if there are any copies available for me borrow?"

"Really depends on your taste in books," he smirked.

"I believe it's quite broad."

"I'll find one," Jess said. "How's the house thing going…?" he tried to divert her attention from him.

"It's going well, thank you. I am meeting my decorator this afternoon to go over final details. It should be ready for me to move in by next month. Feel free to tell your mother she can start making excuses now as to why she can't see me."

"Will do," Rory nodded, happy that the teasing was directed at someone else. "Oh, look, lunch!"

"Try to sound less excited, Rory."

"I'm starving. Baby," she shook her head, pointing at her bump.


	25. Ready?

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews.**

* * *

 **Ready?**

A couple of weeks later.

Lorelai woke up with a startle to see Paul Anka staring at her from beside the bed, his eyes intensely focused on her face.

"Oh, geez!" she mumbled, trying to shake herself into awareness. "What, Timmy fell down the well?" She sighed. Glancing over at Luke, she decided there was no waking the man, so instead she grabbed her robe and stood up. "Swear, if you just want someone to watch you walk down the stairs again, I'm… something. But it will be terrible!" she tried to threaten the dog as she scratched his ears. "Ugh, I'm too tired for this."

She followed him down the stairs, but stopped after a few steps, as she heard a noise from the first floor. "Bark if it's a thief?" She tried, getting only a confused look from the dog. "Ok, you either don't know what a thief is or…" she tilted her head to try and listen.

"Damn it!" there was a whine from downstairs, and Lorelai breathed a sigh of relief when she recognized her daughter's voice.

"This definitely counts as guard dog duty, well done. Take that, Luke, saying you're useless! We're going to hold this over him forever now, aren't we, baby?" she mumbled to the dog as she made her way down the stairs. "Rory?" She asked as she opened the door to her daughter's old room, finding her standing in the middle, chewing her thumb as she stared at the room.

"Hm?"

"I'm fairly confident giving me a heart attack isn't going to help whatever is wrong," Lorelai pointed out.

"Hm?" She asked again and her brow furrowed further.

"Rory, it's two in the morning."

"Oh, that."

"Yeah, that." Lorelai looked at the kitchen with a wistful sigh. "Coffee?"

"I don't have time."

"The floor's been doing pretty good at not floating away without you standing on it so far, I think you can find some."

"You're hilarious," Rory frowned.

"Are you in labor? I assume you're not, you're just standing there and haven't cursed once, but thought I should ask."

"No!" She answered quickly. "Why would you say that?"

"I don't know, it's two in the morning, what do you want me to think?" Lorelai sighed. "Ok, I'm making coffee, 'cause this is going nowhere and I'm too tired to think and then you can tell me what's wrong."

"I'm not sure this is the right way to handle a crisis!" Rory called to her mother from behind the door and Lorelai shrugged.

"Maybe not, but it's the right way to handle two am," she whined in return.

"So if I come to you tomorrow at two am and I tell you I'm in labor, you'll say _'wait five minutes, I need to make coffee'_?" Rory asked, finally walking out of the room and sitting at the kitchen table.

"No, I'd get Luke to make the coffee while I put clothes on. Multitasking." She set the coffee machine running and sat across from her daughter, putting a hand on hers gently. "What's wrong?"

"Everything." Rory took a deep breath. "Everything is wrong and I'm not ready, and I know you're going to say no one's ready to have a baby, but I'm a hundred percent more not ready than everyone else."

"That's not true."

"Oh, right," she snorted.

"Ok, you remember who you're talking to, right? I didn't even have a crib for you!"

"Fine, there's some people who are more not ready, but I'm pretty high up there too," Rory conceded. "Less ready. God, I can't even think anymore."

"When's the last time you got any sleep?"

"About three months ago," she sighed, staring at her bump. "I'm sorry. At least one of us should be sleeping right now, I'll go." She tried to stand up, but Lorelai stopped her, her hand still holding on to Rory's.

"You're going nowhere. I'm guessing it's going to be a no on coffee, but I'll get you some tea, how does that sound?"

"I'll take the coffee. It's not like I don't want to sleep," another whine.

"You're almost there," Lorelai reminded her.

"And there's a lot of sleep with a newborn?" Rory asked as she watched Lorelai pouring two cups full and setting them down on the table.

"You can hand her to someone else and get some uninterrupted sleep once she's here, so yeah, actually, there is more sleep than you're having now."

"Do I point out that she's going to need to eat?"

"She's going to have to learn to take a bottle when you start work again," Lorelai shrugged. "You have options."

"Oh, God, I hadn't thought about that. There's so much stuff!"

"Great going, Lorelai, you've made it worse," she scolded herself, scooting her chair closer to Rory's. "It's going to be fine."

"Nothing is going to be fine. There's nowhere to put a crib!" Rory threw a hand towards her old room.

"Yeah, that's true. But we can move your desk to the garage for a while."

"Oh."

"If we take the armchair out too, it'll give you more room to breathe in there."

"Not the armchair! It'd be nice to have somewhere to sit," Rory explained. "The vanity."

"Ok, I'll get Luke to move the desk and vanity to the garage when he wakes up, then he can bring the crib in. Or we can move the vanity and put a crib there, and turn the desk into a changing table, so we've got that covered too," she squeezed her daughter's arm gently. "This means you're staying over?"

"If the offer's still good?"

"The offer is always good. When you're ninety and come back from your mid-life crisis trip around the world, you can still stay here."

"Mid-life crisis at ninety?"

"Oh, yeah, we're solving this ageing thing in the next five years. Someone has to before I'm forced to get Botox," Lorelai chuckled. "What happened?"

"What?"

"I know you've been stressed, but I didn't think you were break into the house in the middle of the night levels of stressed," she sat back in her chair and picked up the coffee cup.

"I finish work tomorrow," Rory whispered. "All of a sudden, it's very very real and I'm… not ready."

"You are."

Rory just shook her head, staring into her own cup.

"She has clothes, diapers and between me, Mom and your baby shower, about five different things she can sleep in. Babies don't need anything else."

"No, I mean… _I_ am not ready. Everything's going to change and it's terrifying."

"Change isn't always bad."

"Says the woman who had a new engine put in her car so she wouldn't have to get a new one."

"That's completely different, finding a good new car is miles harder than babies," Lorelai joked. "It's ok to be scared. Probably not going to go away either."

"Wow, you suck at pep talks," Rory finally smiled.

"It's true. I wasn't ready for you to talk, or start school, or leave home, that one I'm still not ready, and this whole you being a mother? Definitely not ready. You're never ready for anything your kids do, starting the second they start existing."

"So I just have to live with this?"

"You get used to it after a while, it stops being a big deal." Lorelai shrugged it off. "It doesn't matter if you're not ready. You buckle down and do what it takes and wait until they're old to admit you're constantly terrified of screwing them up."

"I'm never going to be even half as good as you."

"Yeah, you are," she gave Rory's arm another squeeze. "You are going to be amazing."

"You know, you should have less faith in someone who walked across town in the middle of the night wearing slippers."

"It's only a couple of blocks," Lorelai waved it off. "Feeling better?"

"I will the second I figure out where I can fit some clothes for both me and baby."

"See, should have bought a wardrobe, huh, then you wouldn't have this problem!" she gloated. "If you can manage with the two chests of drawers in there for a while…"

"They're full of books." Rory interrupted.

"How about we go to Mrs Kim's next week and see if they have a wardrobe?"

"You're not going to let me move the other one back, are you?"

"It would be easier for you to get the books out."

"Aw, what's that, you want to go to bed? Good night!" Rory replied in a mock voice.

"Yeah, hard being mean when you're wearing slippers," Lorelai retorted too. "You wanna watch a movie?"

"You're not going back to sleep?"

"Someone needs to keep an eye on you."

"So we're going to have a movie night right now?"

"You have a better idea?"

"Do you have any pizza?"

"You need to ask?" Lorelai grinned before going to the fridge and digging up a box.

* * *

The next evening.

Rory's phone buzzed on the coffee table and she groaned.

"Ugh, not again."

"Lorelai?" Jess asked.

She stretched, trying not to lose her comfortable spot stretched out on the couch, leaning against Jess, and picked it up. "Yeah."

"Everything ok? She doesn't usually text six times in an hour."

"Had a thing last night," Rory told him.

"You wanna talk about it?" he asked, his hand moving gently over her arm.

"I don't know," she shrugged. "Couldn't sleep, got inside my own head, one thing lead to another…" a second shrug. "I was going to call you, but it was the middle of the night so I ended up at her house. I was trying not to wake her up either, just do something that wasn't standing here working myself into a panic attack, but Paul Anka's a snitch."

"That sounds like a pretty big thing."

"It's better now."

"Ok." Jess kissed the top of her head. "You call me next time."

"I wasn't kidding when I said it was the middle of the night."

"You still call if you want to talk."

"Thank you," she smiled, nestling in closer to him. "You know I'm going to be awake a lot in the middle of the night soon, right?"

"I'll drink more coffee," he placed another kiss on her head.

"I think I've decided to crash at Mom's for a while after the baby's born."

"Ok."

"You…?"

"Always wondered how much Lorelai actually eats in a day, now's finally the time I find out."

"It's a lot," Rory smiled.

"Don't spoil it."


	26. Countdown

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews.**

* * *

 **Countdown**

Nine days to due date.

Rory walked downstairs to the diner and scanned the room, spotting her mother sitting at a table by the window. She sat down opposite her with a tired groan.

"How am I this tired at eight in the morning?"

"Baby growing is hard work," Lorelai commiserated. "But but but!" she started excitedly. "Single digits left now!"

"See, I got excited about that one last night around midnight, and then I remembered she's statistically likely to be late, because first babies are mean jerks like that, so I'm going to be pregnant forever. Kinda killed the whole thing," her voice sounded defeated.

"But maybe she'll be on time! Or early, wouldn't that be amazing?"

"And then I'll be tired because of the crying baby instead of the wriggling baby?"

"Ok, yeah, that's true, but they don't cry all the time!"

"I'll give you that," Rory conceded. "I just don't want to get excited and think about it too much, because then it's going to suck even more when I'm pregnant for another two weeks instead of nine days."

"I'll be excited for both of us then," Lorelai announced and picked up her coffee cup. "Do you want me to track down Luke?"

"Eh, he'll come by eventually," she dismissed it.

"How you doing, sugar?" Babette practically charged up to their table. "Any contractions yet?"

"Uh, no?" Rory answered, after a hesitant break.

"Better get on it, tell Luke to get you some pineapple!"

"Hm?" She asked again, but the woman was already gone. "What was that about?"

"Uh…" Lorelai hesitated, looking over her shoulder. "I think I should get Luke, I haven't had…"

"Mom?"

"There's a pool. On when the baby's going to be born," she replied "I tried to stop Kirk!"

"Of course Kirk is involved." Rory rolled her eyes.

"People are bored! We don't have a lot to do in this town, we have to grasp at every straw we can find."

"The way you say we makes me wonder how much money you threw in."

"None!" she clutched her heart in fake pain. "Kirk said I wasn't allowed to," she added to her daughter's suspicious look.

"So this attempt of yours to stop him…?"

"I have been more convincing in the past, in all honesty," she agreed.

"You disappoint me," Rory scolded her.

"You love me," she reminded her daughter with a grin.

"I need a ride to the doctor, if that counts as love?"

"I'll take it," Lorelai agreed. "You want me to tell Taylor and see if he can find some bizarre town law that will make Kirk stop?"

"Oh, let him," Rory shrugged. "How much money can it actually be?"

"Over two grand."

"Geez!"

"Bored and very invested in your baby."

"People should have put their money towards Netflix accounts or something."

* * *

Eight days to go.

"What do you think my chances of mastering telekinesis in the next couple of days are?" Rory asked as she opened the door to her place to let Jess in. "'Cause I need to go full Carrie and burn this place to the ground."

"I'll have a getaway car ready," he kissed her quickly. "The pool thing?"

"I can't leave the house without five people following me to see what I'm doing and if I look like I'm about to give birth," she sighed. "I like that you encourage my murderous rages," she softened again, smiling. "Hi. Sorry."

"What for?"

"Making you stand in the doorway so I could rant?" she tilted her head to the still open door behind him.

"I like that you're making up for it with more standing."

"Oh, right," she realized with a chuckle. "Come in. Sorry," she said again, plopping down on the couch. "Hope you're happy not leaving this place until Sunday, 'cause I am definitely not. Leaving. Or happy about it. No, wait, we need food. Luke will bring us food," Rory rambled. "I had such a nice weekend planned too, because I figured it might be our last weekend together, I know it's likely not and she's going to be late, but it might be, so I wanted to go to the bookshop and then have cake at Weston's, so I don't have to stand for more than five minutes without cake, it's very risky, you know, and then go by the bridge but now…?" She stopped the rant. "This town sucks."

Jess set his hand on her cheek gently, fingers playing with her hair. "Want to drive to Hartford?"

"Not really."

"Want to sit on this couch and see how much pizza two people can eat in a weekend?"

"Definitely," Rory smiled, motioning for him to come closer so she could kiss him. "Jess?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"For?"

"Offering to drive the getaway car."

"I'll have us halfway across the country before they figure it out."

* * *

Four days to go.

"Good morning, child!" Lorelai walked into her daughter's apartment, holding a tray of food. "If you're not coming out to eat, food will magically arrive to you!"

"I am coming out to eat! We had dinner together last night!"

"You waited until the diner was closed before leaving."

"Fine," she conceded, eyeing the breakfast. "Did you bring any coffee?"

"No. Luke's bringing the coffee," she added to Rory's disappointed face. "What, you trust me to carry cups up those stairs?"

"I'm surprised that's still in one piece, actually," she agreed. They sat at the table and Rory picked a slice of bacon. "How is it?" she asked, chewing on it.

"Downstairs? Oh, you know."

"How worried do I have to be that Kirk will try to get a ladder up to me windows?"

"Reasonably concerned," Lorelai answered after thinking about it for a moment. Standing up to the noise of a foot tapping on the door, she held it open for her husband to walk in, carrying a second tray of food and two cups.

"Got you regular, but I can…"

"Regular is great, thank you," Rory interrupted before he could finish. "You didn't have to listen to her and bring half the breakfast menu up here."

"Eat the banana at least," the man told her, shaking his head, before heading back to the door.

"She's pretty whole now, I don't think there's a lot of good fruit can do her," Rory told him, picking up an empty plate and starting to stack it with bacon as soon as he was out of the room. "I like that he complains, while supplying us with food."

"Did we ever consider that just complaining about our eating habits makes him happy?" Lorelai shrugged. "Get any sleep?"

"Some. Not enough. As usual."

"You sure you don't want to come live with us now? I will happily keep you company in the middle of the night."

"And much as I appreciate the offer, I want to get as much work done for college as I can."

"Nerd."

"Very mature," she rolled her eyes. "But you brought me food, so I'll let it slide."

"Knew I was good for something." Lorelai picked a plate for herself. "Any plans for today?"

"Hide?"

"Need company?"

"You don't have to work?"

"I can take the day off to be with you. Michel's got a handle on things."

"We haven't done an all day movie marathon in a while."

"Say no more."

* * *

Three days to go.

" _You ok?"_ Jess asked, the slightest edge of worry making its way into his voice.

"Yeah, why?"

" _You're quiet."_

"Tired, I guess," she replied with a small shrug, even though he couldn't see her. "I don't really like this thing where I can't leave my place without feeling like everyone's stalking me to see if I'm about to have a baby on the sidewalk or something, like it's somehow their business. It's all wearing me down. More than usual today, I think, it's just… making me feel off, too? I don't know what I'm feeling, but none of it is good," she admitted. "I'll get over it."

" _You want me to take a couple of days off and drive over tomorrow?"_

"No, don't worry about it. Seeing you would be nice, but I'll just end up taking my grump out on you. It's not worth it," she shook her head with a smile. "I have another doctor's appointment tomorrow, I'll ask Mom if she wants to go do something around Hartford after we're done."

" _Lorelai and shopping? That's gonna be a hard sell."_

"Thought we could stop for coffee too, but decided against the idea, she'd never go for it."

" _Better that way."_ Jess paused for a second. _"If you change your mind…?"_

"No, I'm pretty sure she won't go for coffee and shopping," Rory chuckled. "I'll call you."

" _Ok."_

* * *

A few hours later.

Rory stared at the clock on the nightstand, trying to think about anything other than the starting-to-feel-a-lot-like-pain thing that she had been trying very hard to ignore and pretend it was just tightening, or dehydration-induced-cramp, or anything but pain, and definitely anything but contraction pain. She picked up her phone as soon as it abated.

' _Can I call?_ '

The phone rang in her hand less than a minute later.

" _Hey,"_ Jess sounded groggy.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

" _What's up?"_ He ignored her apology.

"Hurts," she admitted, biting her lip. A hand rested on her stomach.

There was a short pause at the other end and a shuffle. _"I…"_ he paused again. _"I was gonna ask if you're ok, and then figured that'd be stupid."_ Sounding a lot more awake.

"I have been better," Rory smiled. "I don't really know why I called you."

" _So I can tell you to call Lorelai?"_

"Probably."

" _Call Lorelai."_

"I don't think it's that urgent yet. It's probably nothing. Just some new way this whole pregnancy thing has found of trying to keep me awake," she tried to justify it, not sure if she was trying to convince him or herself more.

" _Yeah, it'd still make me feel better."_

"So I should do it for you?"

" _Exactly."_

"Ok. 'Cause you asked," another smile.

" _Keep me posted."_

"Yeah," she bit her lip. "Jess?"

" _You'll be ok."_


End file.
